Check out our divisional round-up for a greater understanding of ACA’s lightweight division.

Inside lightweight, one of the strongest talent pools in MMA, the top-three ACB/A lightweights have created a shark tank of their own; to date and despite some stiff resistance, the three kings at 155 have only lost to each other since 2013. The Russian promotion has talent, that much is unquestionable, but the best have turned back the rest with alarming consistency, and that lack of top-tier-turnover is very rare in a division with the strength of 155.

Among such an ironclad echelon of elites, Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov has made a more-than-defensible case for being the best of them all, having finished Eduard Vartanyan and Ali Bagov three combined times (with only one razor-close decision loss among them, his sole loss in nine years). While the belt became Bagov’s after their trilogy’s third episode in Krasnodar, Abdulvakhabov has put himself back on a winstreak since, and he still holds a 2-1 edge over “Hulk”. With the massive Bagov’s move to welter, Abdulvakhabov’s feat becomes even more impressive, and that move also opens the division back up for him; now slated to fight Hacran Dias for the vacant belt, smart money is on the Chechen to get back to the throne from which he was toppled by the thinnest of margins against a man who wouldn’t look out of place at 185.

The skillset to consistently be such a menace at a division like ACA’s 155 is obviously formidable, but Abdulvakhabov somehow still exceeds expectations; “Lion” has outstruck lightweight’s best striker and outgrappled its best grappler, in ways that shouldn’t be possible to make look so easy. Abdulvakhabov isn’t unbeatable, but he’s also proven nearly impenetrable from a strategic perspective; it’s taken all the skill and trickery of his opponents to outgame him, and he’s destroyed them for even a bit less, as there’s simply no easy way past him.

Investment-Grade

At heart, AAA is a striker, but that’s only a characterization that’s easy to make with a broad view of all his fights; if one were to drill down into any specific fight of the Chechen, he’s as difficult to fit into a stylistic bucket as anyone in the sport. One could venture to say that, along with Eduard Vartanyan, Abdulvakhabov is one of the few fighters at 155 who could truly afford to accept wherever a fight goes; getting to a high-level at a good division generally requires a level of competence in ancillary areas, but it doesn’t necessitate being nearly-bulletproof everywhere, and yet that’s essentially how AAA has developed.

While his higher-profile fights tell a great story independently, it’s also worth looking at how he dealt with his easier opponents; very few in ACA are absolute pushovers, but AAA has made more than a few look that way. A good place to start might be his bout against Imanali Gamzatkhanov, where Abdulvakhabov’s opponent was generally competent but still outskilled and outgunned in every single way.