Unbeaten Turkish MMA sensation Alibeg Rasulov may be making his debut this week, but he has the opportunity to walk away from his first bout with ONE Championship gold.
At ONE Fight Night 23 the 31-year-old will take on South Korea’s Ok Rae Yoon for the interim lightweight world title while current king Christian Lee is shelved through injury.
With a perfect 14-0 record, Rasulov has built a fearsome reputation in Europe and Asia, but now is the time to take the step up in class and face a former world champion on Ok Rae Yoon.
While his path to this position may be a little faster than expected, there is no doubt he has the tools to get the job done – here are three keys to victory this weekend.
Make the ground game count
While he may now represent Turkey, Rasulov was born in Dagestan and as with so many of his MMA compatriots has an excellent wrestling background. His takedowns are accurate and explosive, and once on top has the ability to end fights through vicious ground and pound, and an underrated submission game – as four wins via submission testify to. Rasulov backs his ability on the feet, but has acknowledged that is where Ok is going to feel most comfortable.
Be relentless
Ok has four wins in ONE Championship, and all of them have gone the distance. He has an excellent engine and the ability to make fights move at his pace. His single ONE Championship defeat came at the hands of Christian Lee in a two-round blitz that almost seemed to catch the Korean off guard. As already mentioned, Rasulov is explosive and when fresh can cause real damage early on – with six of his wins coming in the first round.
Patience
If being quick out of the gates doesn’t work, then there has to be a Plan B. In defeating Christian Lee in their first outing, Ok was a master at stifling submission attempts and picked his moments to attack and do damage. We know the engine he has so 25 minutes is not going to be a problem, Rasulov can’t let himself be frustrated by Ok, and needs to remain in control of his gameplan, and destiny.
Whichever way this one goes there is a huge amount of hype at the top of one of the organisation’s most competitive divisions – with one man taking a huge step on the way to attempting to unify the class in the coming months.
ONE Fight Night 23: Ok vs. Rasulov takes place in the early hours of Saturday July 6 (4am GST). This is one not to be missed and Middle East fight fans to see all the action live on BeIN SPORTS as well as watch.onefc.com
