Amir Aliakbari put himself in a position to challenge for the ONE Heavyweight World Champion at ONE Fight Night 12 with his first-round submission finish over Dustin Joynson. However, reigning king Anatoly Malykhin was not impressed by his showing. Malykhin told ONE Championship he thinks Aliakbari believes his own hype after wins over Brandon Vera and Mauro Cerilli.
“Then, he beat this guy [Joynson], whose wrestling is… well, he hasn’t even read a book about wrestling.