Akbar Abdullaev glad to put his grappling on show against Halil Amir: "Now, you can see that I can wrestle too"

Akbar Abdullaev's wicked hands got him a third straight bonus-winning knockout on the ONE Championship stage. But before that second-round finish arrived, the Kyrgyzstani warrior needed to rely on his grappling to ensure he would leave the global stage with his hand raised.

After all, that was what the Al Munar Team and Tiger Muay Thai athlete had his mind set on doing, given his reputation as a knockout specialist heading into his clash against Halil Amir at ONE Fight Night 22 last Friday, May 3.

The Moscow-based fighter felt the urge to showcase other facets of his all-around game against arguably the toughest assignment of his promotional tenure.

Speaking at the ONE Fight Night 22 post-event press conference, Akbar Abdullaev shared:

"I was trying to show everyone that I can do everything. I can strike. But at the same time, now, you can see that I can wrestle too, and I can wrestle pretty well."

Watch the full interview here:

With that mission now a thing of the past, the Kyrgyz fighter is fired up to get himself into the upper echelons of the division to move closer to a dream matchup against ONE featherweight MMA world champion Tang Kai.

His second-round win over Amir, which also marked his third successive highlight-reel win, indeed pushes him in a good position to speed up his aim to secure a spot among ONE Championship royalty.

North American fans eager to relive his epic win can do so via the free event replay tab on Amazon Prime Video.

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Akbar Abdullaev fancies his chances against divisional king Tang Kai

While going up against Tang Kai could be a far more difficult test, Akbar Abdullaev is not short of confidence about causing a massive stir in the stacked featherweight MMA division.

In a separate interview with Sportskeeda MMA, he claimed that he envisions himself getting his hand raised against the Chinese megastar, who defended his gold against former kingpin Thanh Le at ONE 166: Qatar.

He relayed:

"Yeah, you know, I'm feeling good about this fight with Tang Kai. I feel pretty confident, and if everything goes well, I'm ready to take the belt. I'm ready to take the belt home."

Given their credibility as two of the best finishes in the weight class, you simply cannot blink an eye if and when these two collide in the world's largest martial arts organization.