Two title fights in the UFC, a tournament in memory of Nurmagomedov's father and the return of Abdurakhimov: the main events of MMA in September

ACA 128

Date and venue

: September 11, Minsk (Belarus)

Significant fights

: 

Evgeny Goncharov

- Daniel Omelyanchuk. 

One of the first major shows in September will be hosted by ACA. The Russian promotion will hold another offsite event in Minsk, which will be crowned by Viskhan Magomadov and Ilya Khodkevich. However, the most interesting is the confrontation between Evgeny Goncharov and Daniel Omelyanchuk - former belt holders in the heavy division. Moreover, the Russian has not appeared in the cage of the Akhmat Absolute Championship since February 2020.

Then Goncharov lost to a choke Mukhumat Vakhaev and lost his champion title, and subsequently left the promotion.

And apparently, this decision was not the best one.

Over the next year, he only fought once in the RCC, after which he returned to the ACA.

And the matchmakers immediately organized a serious test for him in the form of a long-awaited battle with the first number of the rating - Omelyanchuk.

It is very difficult to name a favorite in this confrontation, but one thing is clear: his triumphant will most likely become the next contender for the title.

AMC

Fight

Nights +

Eagle

FC: tournament in memory of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov

Date and venue

: September 17, Moscow (Russia)

Significant battles

: 

Shamil Zavurov

- Nariman Abbasov. 

One of the most anticipated events of the month in Russian MMA promises to be the annual tournament in memory of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov.

Like a year ago, it will be co-organized by Eagle FC and AMC Fight Nights.

But despite the fact that there are about three weeks before the start of the show, the card has not yet been fully announced.

At the moment, only part of the event program is known, including the confrontation between Nurullo Aliea and Kirill Kryukov, as well as Zagid Izagakhmaev and Maxim Butorin.

At the same time, representatives of the two promotions will again meet in the main duel.

EFC President Shamil Zavurov will fight with AMC Fight Nights lightweight champion Nariman Abbasov.

Moreover, for the 37-year-old Dagestani, this battle will be the last in his career.

ONE

Championship:

Revolution

Date and venue

: September 24, Kallang (Singapore)

Significant battles

:

Anatoly Malykhin

- Amir Alikabari. 

In September, one of the most promising Russian heavyweights will have his second fight in ONE.

By the age of 33, Anatoly Malykhin has an ideal record of 9-0 in his asset, and soon he can win the anniversary, tenth victory.

The world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, Amir Aliakbari, will try to prevent him, the meeting with whom has been discussed since the arrival of the domestic athlete in the Singapore promotion.

As Malykhin said, he signed a contract for the fight with Aliakbari even before the end of his debut fight with Alexandre Machado.

However, the battle was subsequently postponed twice.

First, Amir needed to recover from a crushing knockout in a battle with Ji Won Kang, and then Anatoly suffered a leg injury.

Now both are in shape and ready for a face-to-face duel, following which the Russian may well come close to winning the status of the first contender.

ACA 129

Date and place

: September 24, Moscow (Russia)

Significant battles

: Rashid Magomedov

- Alexander Sarnavsky. 

On the same day, ACA will hold only the third show in Moscow in 2021.

After a three-month break, the promotion will return to the capital, albeit again without a title fight.

It will be headed by two top fighters of the featherweight division - Alexander Sarnavsky and Rashid Magomedov, who occupy the fourth and sixth positions in the ranking, respectively.

In less than three years, Sarnavsky defeated more than one representative of the elite of the category and is eager to take revenge on Abdul-Aziz Abdulvahabov, whom he lost in September 2020.

At the same time, it would probably be more interesting for the promotion to arrange a test for the champion in the form of ex-UFC and PFL fighter - Magomedov.

If Rashid wins, he will most likely get the right to compete for the title.

Among other things, at the tournament in Moscow, a battle is planned between the top welterweight categories - Gadzhimurad Hiramagomedov and Vitaly Slipenko, a fight with the participation of the second and fourth heavy numbers - Dmitry Poberezhets and Salimgerey Rasulov, as well as the performance of famous representatives of the light categories - Shamil Shahbulatov and Alikhanov.

Ufc 266

Date and place

: September 25, Las Vegas (USA)

Significant fights

: 

Alexander Volkanovski (h)

- Brian Ortega (featherweight title),

Valentina Shevchenko (h)

- Lauren Murphy (flyweight title), Robbie Lawler - Nick Diaz,

Shamil Abdurakhimov

- Chris Dakas. 

The last major mixed martial arts tournament in September will be held in Las Vegas. As part of the next UFC numbered show, two title fights will take place at once, and the duel of Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega promises to be much more competitive. The Australian learned the name of his opponent back in October and was originally supposed to meet with him in March, but fell ill with the coronavirus. To some extent, this was even beneficial and helped to further inflame the atmosphere around the fight. During this time, the athletes managed to take part in the filming of the 29th season of The Ultimate Fighter, during which the relationship between them only intensified.

For Ortega, this will be the second attempt to win the UFC title. In December 2018, he was already fighting for the belt and devastatingly lost to Max Holloway, unable to oppose anything to him in a standing position. However, the difference in anthropometry played a big role there, and Volkanovski cannot boast of such an advantage. Therefore, there is every reason to expect that this fight will become much more competitive. Bookmakers are sure of this too. Although they prefer the Australian, they do not consider him an unambiguous favorite.

In comparison, the result of the battle between Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy seems to be known in advance.

Few people seriously believe that the American is able to compete with the Kyrgyz-Peruvian athlete, who has a streak of seven victories in a row.

The 38-year-old challenger will certainly try to drag her opponent to the ground, but there are big doubts that she will succeed.

At the same time, one of the most fierce is the fight between Robbie Lawler and Nick Diaz.

True, in the event that the ex-welterweight champion can ignite the fire inside himself that helped him gain the upper hand in the bloody battles with Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit.

Recently, the 39-year-old American has surrendered strongly, which is confirmed by four defeats in a row.

Last year he did not perform at all and it is not known what state he is in now.

The same can be said about Shamil Abdurakhimov. Almost two years have passed since his last appearance in the Octagon, and since then he has been constantly haunted by both health problems and a visa. If everything goes well, then he will still be able to interrupt a long pause in speeches and prove that the UFC did not in vain retain his seventh place in the heavyweight ranking. True, for this you need not only to enter the cage, but also to defeat the young and promising Chris Dakas. The American won each of three fights in the championship, and in the last of them he knocked out Alexey Oleinik.