Undefeated powerhouse Alibeg Rasulov has a chance to make a big impact in his ONE Championship debut on Friday, July 5, at ONE Fight Night 23.
The Russian phenom will meet Ok Rae Yoon to contest the ONE Interim Lightweight MMA Championship in the main event of the thrilling event.
Getting to this point has been a constant chase that began in Rasulov’s earliest days, and his commitment to sports excellence has always been a priority.
“As I child, I chose the right way: do wrestling. I did freestyle wrestling for a long time,” he told ONE.
“I also played football at school. In general, I had a sporty childhood.”
With a background in grappling, MMA was a natural progression. However, the burgeoning star knew that he needed to work on other tools to become a complete athlete.
Before pursuing what he truly wanted, Rasulov decided to move to the striking arts in order to add to his already dangerous arsenal of weapons.
“I initially wanted to switch to MMA. But I already had wrestling skills and wanted to improve at stand-up. So I decided to enter Muay Thai,” Rasulov remarked.
“Muay Thai for me is a good sport: clinching, elbow strikes, knee strikes – everything MMA requires, so this was a good link.”
After improving in the “arts of eight limbs,” the choice to go professional was easy for the Turkey-based athlete.
It was a call over a decade in the making, and Rasulov never looked back from there.
“It was after school when I decided to do it professionally, after freestyle wrestling. The decision came on its own,” he said.
“Then I had my professional debut around 11 years ago and realized it was my way.”
Rasulov faced tough times in the early days of his MMA career, as he struggled to stay active.
But a move to Turkey opened the door to more consistent matches, and that helped him start to put a string of wins together.
“I was offered fights, I agreed, but they couldn’t find an opponent for me for two years. It was very difficult,” he stated.
“It was hard to motivate myself, but I kept training and preparing. I continued to hope, and it has finally borne fruit.”
Now, the Hyperion Fighters athlete has arrived on the global stage of ONE – and he’s brought a 14-0 record with him.
After a long road to this point, Rasulov says he is excited to show what he’s got in a main event that could net him gold.
“When I was signed to ONE Championship, I was happy to know I would fight the best fighters in the world. My goal here is to become a champion and show beautiful fights,” he said.
“I wish for my opponent to stay in good form so that we can show a spectacular fight. Every athlete prepares for a fight for a very long time, and he wants this fight to be remembered for life.”
ONE Fight Night 23: Ok vs. Rasulov airs live on Prime Video at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT this Friday, July 5, for all Amazon Prime subscribers based in the U.S. and Canada.