Dominance MMA founder Ali Abdelaziz. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—ONE Championship continued to expand its reach into the West with Dominance MMA founder Ali Abdelaziz pledging to work with the outfit in the future.
Abdelaziz, who represents around 300 fighters, said he’ll have his wards fight in ONE Championship.
“I just want to express my excitement with working with ONE, I represent around 300 fighters, some of the biggest fighters in the world which we can work with,” said Abdelaziz.
“I think I have a lot of guys right now, some up and coming fighters, world champions, big names and one day some of them can become free agents and join ONE. I am excited to work with [ONE].”
“In the next few days, we’re gonna look at some athletes, and me and Chatri have been talking and maybe we’re gonna break something in a few days. I have a garage full of Ferraris and Lamborghinis and I’m looking forward to put on a very very good car show in Asia.”
One of Abdelaziz’ fighters is former UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo.
Although Cejudo has already announced his retirement from the sport, he still has an outstanding contract with UFC and that could prove to be a pitfall for a potential third fight between him and Demetrious Johnson.
Johnson and Cejudo have one win against each other and the third match could potentially happen under the ONE banner.
Cejudo teased a third fight between him and Johnson on Twitter and Abdelaziz said that he’s not closing the possibility.
“At the end of the day, MMA has grown so much, you see soccer players that get traded every year from team to team. ONE Championship is full of smart people. The UFC is full of smart people and I have amazing relationships with both promotions. If this is real talk (from Cejudo), I have to talk to both parties cause I would love to see that match between them,” said Abdelaziz.
“Right now Henry Cejudo is still a UFC fighter, but if two people want to do something, we can do it but we have to get everything to agree.”
Despite the hype behind Cejudo, Abdelaziz said he’s not just focusing on the former two-weight champion.
Usman Nurmagomedov (9-0), the younger brother of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, has been linked with ONE Championship and Abdelaziz believes the undefeated grappler is perfect for the promotion.
Another name Abdelaziz threw in was Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari (10-1), who has knocked out seven of his opponents despite having a grappling background.
“Usman is 20 years old, he’s undefeated 9-0, he’s one of my biggest prospects in MMA, to be honest we talked about it with Khabib and we thought, maybe he can join ONE Championship,” said Abdelaziz.