Amir Aliakbari vs. Marcus Buchecha booked for ONE 169 in Atlanta

Marcus Buchecha urged ONE Championship to give him a fight, and it didn’t take long for the company to oblige. The jiu-jitsu legend will face knockout artist Amir Aliakbari at ONE 169 on Nov. 8 in Atlanta, Ga.

Multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting. ONE 169 will be topped by a heavyweight title bout between Anatoly Malykhin and “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane.

Buchecha (4-1) suffered his first professional loss in a thrilling match against “Reug Reug” in August of 2023 and hasn’t fought since. Buchecha went on social media this past week to voice his discontent regarding the long layoff. He went 4-0 in a span of a year to kick off his career at ONE, losing to Kane after a year-long layoff.

Aliakbari (14-3) enters the cage riding a four-fight winning streak with four knockouts in a row, stopping former champion Brandon Vera in under a round. He defeated Arjan Bhullar in bizarre fashion back in March, when the ex-titleholder ended up disqualified for timidity.

Damon Martin contributed to this report.