Emotional moment of Daniel jubileu MMA
pic.twitter.com/JM5Hqbmr8a— ACAMMA (@ACA_League)
October 6, 2020
The
ACA 112 event in Grozny, Russia, consisted of only 10 fights,
but according to the president of Absolute Championship Akhmat, the shortening of
the card actually improved its quality.
The main event and most striking of the evening was the fight
between the champion “Jubileu”
Deivi Daniel Oliveira de Almeida and Abdul-Rakhman
Dudaev. ACA President Alexey Yatsenko admitted to Sherdog that
he changed his mind several times during the fight about who would
win it.
“I knew from the very beginning that it would be an interesting
bout,” explained Yatsenko. “Of course, the audience was
disappointed with the defeat of the local star, one of the best
Russian fighters. But we knew how Jubileu broke into our league. In
February 2019, he came on as a substitute, not in his weight,
agreeing to fight five days before the event. And he simply took
down one of our top fighters, Adlan
Bataev, who was nearly one step away from the fight for the
championship belt. Therefore, the result of the fight between
Almeida and Dudaev did not surprise me.”
Yatsenko continued, “Although before the start of the fight I
thought that Dudaev would become the favorite of the fight, but
when the fight began, my opinion changed for several times. In the
second round, Dudaev shook Jubileu with a strong blow, and I
thought it was over. But the Brazilian then raised the pace of the
fight and, in response, knocked down Dudaev onto the canvas with a
powerful strike. However, he was never able to take advantage of
the right moment, although he was one step away from victory. In
turn, Abdul-Rahman, who seemed to have no chance, he managed to
rise and even began to dominate the bout. The dot in this
confrontation was put by Jubileu’s knee, which flew into Dudaev’s
liver. Such an end of the bout was unexpected for everyone. At the
same time, this blow cannot be called accidental. This is the
result of a long training, this is what is called the quality of
the fight.”
Daniel de Almeida, who is most often referred to in Russia by his
fighting nickname of “Jubileu,” has now become a star in ACA.
According to Yatsenko, the Brazilian “woke up” competition in the
less popular bantamweight division, and now all fighters who have
at least one victory in it dream of fighting the champion.
Journalists also put high demand on “Jubileu,” but he could not
meet with them for two reasons. In addition to quarantine
restrictions limiting his interactions with media, he only speaks
Portuguese – and a rather complicated dialect at that – so the
search for such a specific translator took time.
Daniel de Almeida received a $10,000 bonus for his finish during
the evening, although the obvious winner for “Knockout of the
Night” went to Magomed
Bibulatov. In the first round, Bibulatov shut the surging
Rodrigo
Praia’s lights out with a sensational
spinning back kick. With the spectacular wins from both men,
Yatsenko is planning a fight between the two victors.
“There are exclusive conditions for champions, under which a
fighter’s fee rises sharply with each subsequent belt defense,”
said the ACA president. “So Jubileu has new financial
opportunities, and he is incredibly happy about that. But it will
be very difficult for him to retain the title in a fight against
Bibulatov. At the same time, the cinematic blow in the bout with
Almeida, Bibulatov is unlikely to pass. I can say that this fight
has matured by itself, the only question is when we will be able to
organize it.”
Yatsenko also shared that he was surprised by the result of the
preliminary match between Imran
Bukuev and Azamat
Pshukov in the flyweight division. Pshukov, who had long
dreamed of getting into ACA, came out on short notice and submitted
Imran – the latter on his way to become a contender for the
title.
“I think the audience should follow Azamat
Pshukov. I am sure this is not his last bright victory,”
Yatsenko exclaimed.
ACA 112 was the third event for the promotion to allow spectators
during the COVID-19 pandemic, with upwards of 2,000 fans in the
building. Several thousand more who wanted to watch the tournament
remained on the street. By the end of the year, ACA plans four more
events: one in Poland and three in Russia. The next one, ACA
113, will take place on November 6 in Moscow.