The ACA 178 tournament was held in Moscow. 17 fights were expected by fans, and among them there were five fights with the participation of Tajiks.
Tajik fighter Anis Yekubov (9-1) defeated Saigid Abdullayev (10-3) from Russia by a split decision. This is the 7th victory for Anis, his record in the league (4-0).
Oyatullo Muminov (13-4) defeated Abdul–Karim Badakhshi (7-3) from Afghanistan by unanimous decision and returned to the winning path after losing the last match. Oyatullo's new record in the ASA League is 3-1.
Tajik Hafiz Sakibekov (10-1) defeated Jihad Yunusov (19-8) from Russia by unanimous decision of the refereeing team, and this is his 7th victory in a row and 2nd in the league.
And Davlatmand Chuponov (11-5) strangled Alisher Asamov (12-6) from Uzbekistan in the first round and closed his two-game losing streak.
The real gem of the preliminary card was the confrontation between Tajik fighter Behruz Zukhurov (16-7) and Gleb Khabibullin (9-3-2) from Russia.
Khabibullin won the first two fights in the ACA, and then lost to former league champion Felipe Froes. Zukhurov returned to the league after signing with Elite MMA Championship for two fights.
From the very first seconds, the rivals began to beat each other mercilessly. Madness was going on in the cage, and it was a pity that the corner guards did not have fire extinguishers in their hands to somehow cool down the fighters. The fighters gave us three rounds of pure action. Gleb Khabibullin emerged victorious from this battle, to whom all the judges gave the victory. This is the second defeat in a row for Behrouz.
There is no doubt that this confrontation will eventually be nominated for the "Fight of the Year".
After the tournament, the ACA leadership decided to give a bonus for the "Best Fight" to two duels at once (winners will receive $50 thousand each and losers $25 thousand each): Gleb Khabibullin – Behruz Zukhurov and Jihad Yunusov – Hafiz Sakibekov.
