Absolute Championship Berkut 54: Khalidov vs. Barnatt - March 11 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

ACB 54
March 11, 2017
Manchester Arena   
Manchester, England

Main Card:
Mamed Khalidov (32-4)        vs.        (11-3) Luke Barnatt  
Main Event | Middleweight | 185 lbs (84 kg)

Ion Pascu (15-6)                  vs.  (19-5) Aslambek Saidov  
Co-Main Event | Welterweight | 170 lbs (77 kg)

Przemysław Mysiala (20-9)   vs.    (14-8) Vinny Magalhães  
Main Card | Light Heavyweight | 205 lbs (93 kg)

Brendan Loughnane (13-2)   vs.        (9-3) Mike Wilkinson  
Main Card | Featherweight | 145 lbs (66 kg)

Bubba Jenkins (11-3)            vs.           (22-10) Ali Bagov  
Main Card | Lightweight | 155 lbs (70 kg)

Nam Phan (21-16)                vs.  (13-4) Robert Whiteford  
Main Card | Featherweight | 145 lbs (66 kg)

Joshua Aveles (24-11)           vs.   (11-3) Amirkhan Adaev  
Main Card | Lightweight | 155 lbs (70 kg)

Max Nunes (17-3)                 vs.        (3-0) Batraz Agnaev  
Main Card | Light Heavyweight | 205 lbs (93 kg)

Tanner Boser (12-2)             vs.(4-4) Mukhomad Vakhaev  
Main Card | Heavyweight | 265 lbs (120 kg)

Last week the ACB League announced the tournament in Manchester with one of the best middleweights of the world Mamed Khalidov. His opponent has been announced, the English fighter Luke Baranatt will confront Khalidov.

Mamed has built his almost entire career in mixed martial arts in Poland, therefore, the Russian audience may not associate his name with those of the biggest stars in the world MMA scene. However, in fact Khalidov is one of the strongest middleweight fighters in the world. 36-year-old Khalidov’s record includes 37 bouts – 31 wins (12 KO, 19 SUB), 4 losses and 2 draws. And that’s accounting for the fact that 3 of his 4 defeats were in 2004-2005. At this point Mamed is riding a 12-fight winning streak, he is at the 10th place in the fightmatrix ranking, and he owns the champion title of one of the biggest promotions of Europe KSW. In Poland he is a true icon of mixed martial arts - over a million people are following him on social networks. Mamed is friends with many famous fighters from Russia including Alexander Shlemenko, for whom he was a second in his fight with Vyacheslav Vasilevsky. In the cage Mamed mainly relies on his wrestling and grappling skills, though he is able to withstand even the toughest strikers in stand-up. A leg lock is one of his favorite techniques.
 
An Englishman Barnatt comes from “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show. He took part in the 17th season of the project, where Chael Sonnen and Jon Jones were the coaches. After winning a qualifying bout Luke got into Sonnen’s team, and he was the first choice of the coaches among 16 participants. Finally, he lost in the quarterfinals, but still got a chance to try his hand in UFC. Luke won the first three fights, but then he hit a rough patch in his career with a three-fight losing streak. Despite the fact that 2 out of 3 fights ended in favor of his opponents with very close decisions, the UFC breaks the contract with Luke, and he returns to Europe. Barnatt has fought in three bouts since then, winning all of them, and he won the middleweight title of the Italian promotion Venator FC. Now Barnatt is 28 years old, and his overall record is 11 wins (5 KO, 4 SUB) and 3 losses. He occupies the 47th line in the fightmatrix ranking. For his weight Luke is very tall and has long limbs, and he actively uses this advantage in a fight. He does not focus on a specific martial arts school, trying to fight in diverse ways.

Khalidov fighting outside KSW. Interesting.

ACB announced a revenge title fight to the main card, which will feature Brett Cooper (23-12) and Aslambek Saidov (19-5) in a rematch for Cooper's 170-pound championship.

Also announced, Mike Wilkinson (9-3) will take on Brendan Loughnane (12-2) in a rematch of their 2012 bout at UFC on FX 6.

ACB is getting some name fighters on their shows.

ACB 54 in Manchester on the 11th of March at the Manchester Arena has just added an exciting Light-Heavyweight bout to the card, Brazillian submission artist Vinny ‘Pezao’ Magalhaes (14-8) will take on the 'The Polish Bear' Przemyslaw Mysiala (20-9), on British soil in a fight that could have World title implications.

Kingfedor wrote:
ACB 54 in Manchester on the 11th of March at the Manchester Arena has just added an exciting Light-Heavyweight bout to the card, Brazillian submission artist Vinny ‘Pezao’ Magalhaes (14-8) will take on the 'The Polish Bear' Przemyslaw Mysiala (20-9), on British soil in a fight that could have World title implications.

Retirement was short for Vinny. Would be cool to see him get back on the sub run.

Khalidov smashed him quick. Was a nice finish.