Tonight in the city of Vienna, Austria, 24 fighters from 12 different countries will come together inside the ACB cage to do battle for ACB’s second event of the year ‘ACB 52: Another Level of MMA Fighting’.
Although this is a multi-national tournament, and the first card ACB have put together without a single fighter with a Russian passport on it, they have been sure to represent their host nation well by signing 4 top Austrian prospects including one of the fighters from the headline bout Arbi Agujev in a Welterweight contest against the highly skillful Patrik Kincl from the Czech Republic that looks set to have title implications for the winner.
This fight see’s Arbi return to the Welterweight division after arguably a fight of the year scrap against Anatoly Tokov for the Middleweight title back in May of 2016. Arbi has earned himself the nickname of ‘Monster’ in the gym and in the cage and you only have to watch one of his fights to know why. His forward pressure, highly aggressive style has seen him finish most of his opponents including the run of form he put together in the Middleweight division that saw him contend for the title in May of last year but tonight he goes up against a tough and highly technical opponent in Kincl who has title aspirations of his own. Kincl was due to fight for the Welterweight bout against former titleholder Albert Duraev back at ACB 45 but after Duraev missed weight and the fight didn’t go ahead Kincl has been hungry to get back in there to prove his position as number one contender and with a win over the explosive Arbi tonight he will certainly do that.
The appetizer before the main event is a Heavyweight clash between Poland’s Michal Andryszak and Estonias Denis Smoldarev. This is a bout many are tipping as fight of the night as these two heavyweight prospects have made fast work of many of their previous opponents. With a newly crowned champion in this division both will be looking to make a statement to show the ACB matchmaker that they are ready to challenge for the belt.
You can watch the action live via the ACB YouTube channel with commentary from two-time UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir and play-by-play commentator Bryan Lacey.
Fight card start times:
Austria: 5.30pm
U.K: 4.30pm
USA East Coast: 11.30am
USA West Coast: 8.30am