On Friday, Kazan, Russia will host the opening event of the year for Absolute Championship Akhmat. Under the arches of the Ice Palace of Sports, TatNeft Arena, ACA 151 will host nine fights for fans.
The brightest representative of Russian flyweights, Ruslan Abiltarov (25-10-1) from Kazan, will oppose Brazilian fighter Alan Gomes (14-4-1) in his home arena. Abiltarov fought his last match against Mansur Khatuev in August 2022, finishing him with a guillotine choke in the first round.
In the co-main event of ACA 151, Russian fighter Yusuf “Bors” Raisov (19-3) returns to the cage. Raisov participated in the ACA lightweight grand prix, where he lost in the semifinals by technical knockout to Eduard Vartanyan. Yusuf’s new rival will be South African fighter Alain Ilunga (13-7).
“Of great interest is not only the main match of Abiltarov vs Gomes, but also the fight of one of the most charismatic and famous fighters in the ACA league, Yusuf Raisov against Ilunga,” ACA vice president Aslanbek Badayev said. “They both competed in the ACA grand prix in 2022 in the same half of the grid. Both lost to Vartanyan, and now they meet each other.
“Also of great interest is the debut on January 27 in the ACA league of ex-champion of the Eagle FC league Faridun Odilov from Tajikistan, who has a large army of fans. In general, the audience will witness a strong opening event of the year in Kazan, where ACA is holding an event for the third time, and to the delight of the fans, they will have the opportunity to cheer for local guys – Ruslan Abiltarov, as well as Osikhmon Rakhmonov from Kazan.
“I want to add that ACA has big plans for 2023. We announced a grand Prix in seven weight categories with an impressive prize pool of $10 million. One of the quarterfinals starts with our next event, ACA 152.”
The ACA 151 lineup includes:
- Ruslan Abiltarov vs. Alan Gomes
- Yusuf Raisov vs. Alain Ilunga
- Osimkhon Rakhmonov vs. Altymysh Kylymbek
- Lom-Ali Nalgiev vs. Ramazan Kishev
- Cleber Souza vs. Ibragim Magomedov
- Alimardan Adbdykaarov vs. Francisco de Assis
- Akhmed Musakaev vs. Igor Zhirkov
- Faridun Odilov vs. Elmar Gasanov
- Kirill Fomenkov vs. Alexander Podlesniy
