AND STILL!
Abdulaziz Abdulvakhabov defend his title against Hacran Dias! What
an amazing performance pic.twitter.com/4VSFQvsukq— ACA MMA (@ACA_League)
November 5, 2021
Friday was definitely a very special day for Brazilian MMA. With
Patricky
Freire’s knockout win over Peter
Queally in Ireland, local MMA fans celebrated the country’s
fifth championship victory in a span of nine days.
But there could have been one more reason to celebrate. A few hours
before Freire’s victory, Nova Uniao fighter Hacran Dias
squared off against Russian champion Abdulaziz Abulvakhabov for the
Absolute Championship Akhmat belt. The fight was contested over
five rounds in Moscow, the homeland of the champion, and the action
didn’t disappoint those in attendance. However, the final verdict
was a disappointment to Nova Uniao leader Andre
Pederneiras, as Dias lost a unanimous decision at ACA 131.
“As we expected it was a war, with every round being competititve
from the first to the last second, but it was pretty clear that
Hacran won four rounds — at worst three. When the fight finished, I
had no doubt my fighter won,” Pederneiras said. “It was clear even
to Abdulaziz, who was really upset. But unfortunately two of the
three judges didn’t see it that way.
“I have nothing bad to say about ACA, they treated us so well over
here and I truly believe it was not a question of bad intentions.
But it´s pretty clear their judging is not updated according to the
rest of the world’s standards,” he continued. “I’ve traveled 202
times to take my athletes all over the world. In any event, the
referee deducts a point from fighters who hold the fence. In the
second round, Abdulaziz grabbed the fence while Hacran was taking
him down and that made it possible for him to fall on top. The
referee stopped the fight and continued it standing up without
taking any points. What that means is my fighter ended up
being punished.”
Pederneiras believes that common mistakes like that in Russian
events may prevent other top fighters from the USA, Europe and
Brazil from traveling to the country to fight in local events.
“It´s natural that the champion has an advantage in a draw, but
what is not reasonable is a fighter wins four rounds and
loses the fight because he’s fighting the champion … Everybody
knows most of my fighters comes from slums. Guys like Hacran
dedicate every second of their life to improving and becoming a
champion to give a better life to their family,” Pederneiras
said.
“They know that losing and winning is part of the sport, especially
when you fight the best in the biggest MMA events in the world like
the UFC and ACA. But what makes them really upset is not being able
to buy a house or give a better life to their son due to a judge’s
mistake. That kind of situation is not reasonable.”
According to Pederneiras, the owner of the promotion promised an
immediate rematch right after the event.
“Rarely have I been treated so well at an MMA event.The owner of
the event recognized what happened and promised Hacran and
Abdulaziz will have an immediate rematch. Actually, he liked what
we did with LFA ,and we are negotiating to take ACA to Brazil,
too.”