Amir Aliakbari

In 2014, longtime MMA entrepreneur Mishal Abul personally found Aliakbari and got him into MMA. Mishal was an investor with Paradigm Sports Management so Aliakbari signed a management agreement with them.[4] At the same time, he signed on to train under UFC star Mike Swick of AKA Thailand in Phuket, Thailand also training alongside UFC fighters Mark Hunt and Soa Palelei.[8] He is the first world class Iranian wrestler to pursue an MMA career.[8]

Aliakbari made his professional MMA debut in October 2015, defeating Hyung Chul-Lee via TKO in the first round. His second bout came two months later as he defeated Radu Spinghel via TKO in the first round.[9]

In early 2016, it was announced that Aliakbari signed with the Japanese promotion Rizin Fighting Federation. He made his debuted in September in the first round of the openweight grand prix against Joao Isidoro Almeida. He won the fight via TKO in the first round. Aliakbari was scheduled to face former UFC champion Shane Carwin in the quarter-finals in December 2016. However, Carwin withdrew from the tournament and he instead faced Heath Herring. Aliakbari won the bout by unanimous decision. In the final stage of the tournament on December 31, Aliakbari faced Valentin Moldavsky. He won the fight via split decision.[10] He then faced Mirko Cro Cop in the finals on the same night and lost the fight via knockout.[11] He then defeated Geronimo dos Santos and Tyler King via TKO.[12]

In December 2017 Aliakbari announced departure from Rizin and Joining ACB. His first opponent was Denis Smoldarev, who Aliakbari defeated via technical knockout at 2:27 of the first round on March 24, 2018. He is going to have four opponents in ACB.

It was reported that Aliakbari was signed by UFC on June 6, 2019 after Aliakbari offered compensation to the ACA for early termination of his contract, where the compensation sum was donated to charity.[13] Aliakbari withdrew from the UFC due to a doping ban handed down by the international amateur wrestling governing body as well as US economic sanctions.[14]

In August 2020 news broke that Aliakbari signed with the ONE Championship.[15] He was scheduled to make his promotional debut against Islam Abasov at ONE Championship: Big Bang on December 4, 2020.[16] However, Abasov withdrew from the fight after being detained following a road incident in his native Russia.[17]

He faced Kang Ji Won at ONE Championship: Fists of Fury 2 on March 5, 2021.[18] In a huge upset, Aliakbari lost to Kang by first-round knockout.[19]

Aliakbari faced Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Championship: Revolution on September 24, 2021.[20] He lost the bout, getting knocked unconscious again in the first round.[21]