ONE Welterweight Champ Kiamrian Abbasov Teases Return in 2022

Kiamrian Abbasov looks to be readying for a title defense in the coming months.

The ONE welterweight world champion kept the caption succinct by simply stating “soon”. Doing so underneath the collage of fight photos he posted recently.

Specific dates and opponents did not pop up here for Abbasov’s return to the Circle in the brand new calendar year. But despite ONE lacking a formally instantiated welterweight rankings hierarchy, there are still some solid inferences that could be made for possible contenders.

Kiamrian Abbasov

Murad Ramazanov would stand out as a fairly obvious choice to stand opposite Abbasov.

Especially considering Ramazanov is coming off of besting a former ONE welterweight champ. He emerged victorious over Zebaztian Kadestam at ONE: Winter Warriors II in mid-December.

Raimond Magomedaliev is another undeniable force in the upper tier of the weight category. A surging contender who could be well served for a crack at the belt.

Magomedaliev has won his last three inside the ONE Circle. His last win coming over former ONE welterweight title challenger Tyler McGuire at ONE on TNT I.

Also, Reinier de Ridder is a dual champion in the promotion already. But has on and of been seemingly eyeballing a third ONE Championship title.

RDR and Abbasov have engaged in a bit of back and forth social media bantering regarding a potential throwdown.

Both fighters have indicated an interest in setting up the bout. But there has been no public indicator as to if ONE Championship has any thought/ desire to book that cross divisional clash between titleholders.

This upcoming fight would be Abbasov’s sixth specifically under the ONE Championship banner.

He is looking for the sophomore defense of his ONE Championship welterweight hardware. This after Abbasov finished James Nakashima with strikes in the fourth frame of their title clash at ONE: Inside The Matrix II in November 2020.

What are your thoughts on the seemingly looming return of Kiamrian Abbasov to the ONE Circle?

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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