Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov beats Gleison Tibau by decision in his welterweight debut at ACA 208
Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov made a winning welterweight debut. On Sunday in Grozny, the former ACA lightweight champion beat Brazil’s Gleison Tibau by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in the ACA 208 main event. The fight moved to the headline slot after the lightweight title fight was cancelled. Abdulvakhabov moves to 23 wins and 2 losses.
Full event coverage: ACA 208: the Shaikhaev vs Tumenov title fight is cancelled hours before the event
Key takeaways
- Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov beats Gleison Tibau by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) in the ACA 208 main event in Grozny.
- It was Abdulvakhabov's 1st fight at welterweight and Tibau's 1st in ACA. The Russian moves to 23-2.
- On the main card, Adlan Ibragimov knocked out Sergey Starodub 21 seconds into round 3.
Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov, 3 rounds and a clear decision
Round 1 on the feet
According to the Metaratings report, Abdulvakhabov took the center and pushed Tibau along the cage. With better distance management, he landed more often.
Round 2 for Tibau
The Brazilian opened round 2 with a takedown. Abdulvakhabov spent the 5 minutes defending under his opponent’s control.
Round 3 and the scorecards
Abdulvakhabov took over again on the feet in round 3 and kept Tibau from closing the distance. 2 judges scored it 29-28, the last one 30-27.
A replacement main event
The lightweight title fight cancelled
The show was meant to be headlined by the lightweight title fight between Daud Shaikhaev and Bibert Tumenov. It was cancelled a few hours earlier after the medical department did not clear Tumenov.
A former champion moving up
Abdulvakhabov, a former ACA lightweight champion, was fighting at welterweight for the 1st time. Metaratings notes he looked clearly smaller than Tibau.
Tibau, 43
A former UFC fighter, 43-year-old Gleison Tibau was making his ACA debut. He arrived in Grozny with 40 wins and 19 losses.
For Abdulvakhabov, this fight was his debut at welterweight, and for Tibau his 1st in ACA.
The rest of the night in Grozny
Ibragimov’s knockout
At light heavyweight, Adlan Ibragimov knocked out Sergey Starodub 21 seconds into round 3, with a left hook according to Metaratings.
Plenty of decisions
Dzhambulat Selimkhanov beat Kurban Taigibov and Abdul-Rahman Dudaev beat Vicente Vargas, each by unanimous decision at featherweight. The event featured 21 fights, most of which went the distance.
Follow ACA
All the results of the night and the profiles of ACA fighters are in the FightHub app.
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