Absolute Championship Akhmat

Current season, competition or edition: 2024 in Absolute Championship Akhmat
Sport	Mixed martial arts
Founded	2014; 10 years ago (2014)
Founder	Mairbek Khasiev
Country	Russia
Headquarters	Grozny, Chechnya
Official website	www.aca-mma.com/en

Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA), formerly known as Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB), is a Russian mixed martial arts, kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu organization and one of the leading promotions in Europe.^[1] To date, most events have been hosted in Grozny, Russia. ACA has also held events in other Russian cities, as well as in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

ACB was founded by Mairbek Khasiev, a citizen of Chechnya. In 2009, he founded the Berkut Fight Club in Grozny which helped young fighters get the opportunity to compete at the highest level.

Several fighters who were successful in ACB have gone on to sign with more well known promotions such as the UFC. ACB had its own fight team, the Fight Club Berkut, which consisted of some of the promotion's fighters, such as Beslan Isaev, Magomed Bibulatov, Musa Khamanaev and Aslambek Saidov. ACB co-operated with other promotions in Europe by exchanging fighters, for example KSW and The Cage. ACB ran the majority of its shows live on a variety of TV networks (Match TV, Polsat Sport) throughout Europe. The promotion ran its shows live internationally on its Facebook page.

The 2017 campaign featured 27 events spanning across thirteen countries, including the United States, Austria, Poland, England, Tajikistan, Belarus, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Australia and Russia.

On September 12, 2018, Mairbek Khasiev revealed that Absolute Championship Berkut had purchased TECH-Krep FC.^[2] Khasiev went on to explain that TECH-Krep FC would cease operation and cancel their October 26 event, and that former Tech-Krep FC head Alexey Yatsenko would become the president of ACB.

On November 28, 2018, the Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov announced that the Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB) and the World Fighting Championship Akhmat (WFCA) would merge to form a single promotion.^[3]

On December 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced sanctions against ACA and Akhmat MMA due to their ownership by Kadyrov. Due to this, no American citizen or company can do business with them, meaning all American fighters could face fines or jail time if they fight for the organization.^[4] Brett Cooper was the first fighter to pull out of his fight at ACA 116: Froes vs Balaev due to the sanctions.^[5]

Division	Champion	Since	Defenses
Heavyweight	Evgeniy Goncharov	March 17, 2023	1
Light Heavyweight	Vacant
Middleweight	Magomedrasul Gasanov	April 9, 2021	4
Welterweight	Albert Tumenov	December 24, 2023	0
Lightweight	Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov	September 19, 2020	2
Featherweight	Islam Omarov	July 21, 2023	1
Bantamweight	Pavel Vitruk	April 19, 2024	0
Flyweight	Kurban Gadzhiev	February 25, 2023	0

The rankings for the ACA's fighters are both recorded and updated when information has been obtained from the ACA's website.^[6]

• Updated as of October 31, 2024.

ACA Rankings
Rank	Heavyweight	Light Heavyweight	Middleweight	Welterweight
C	Evgeniy Goncharov		Magomedrasul Gasanov	Albert Tumenov
1	Alikhan Vakhaev	Muslim Magomedov	Shamil Abdulaev	Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov
2	Mukhumat Vakhaev	Grigor Matevosyan	Artem Frolov	Abubakar Vagaev
3	Adam Bogatyrev	Adlan Ibragimov	Abdul-Rahman Dzhanaev	Chersi Dudaev
4	Kirill Kornilov	Leonardo Silva	Salamu Abdurahmanov	Uzair Abdurakov
5	Anton Vyazigin	Faridun Odilov	Ibragim Magomedov	Anatoliy Boyko
6	Tony Johnson Jr.	Evgeniy Egemberdiev	Mikhail Dolgov	Andrei Koshkin
7	Pouya Rahmani	Elmar Gasanov	Murad Abdulaev	Khuseyn Khaliev
8	Ruslan Medzhidov	Sulim Batalov 2	Vitaly Nemchinov	Elias Silvério
9	Salimgirey Rasulov	Ruslan Gabaraev	Husein Kushagov	Vinicius Cruz
10	Carlos Felipe	Mikhail Mokhnatkin 2	Nikola Dipchikov	Denis Maher
Rank	Lightweight	Featherweight	Bantamweight	Flyweight
C	Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov	Islam Omarov	Pavel Vitruk	Kurban Gadzhiev
1	Ali Bagov	Alihan Suleimanov	Oleg Borisov	Azam Gaforov
2	Daud Shakhaev	Bibert Tumenov	Mehdi Baydulaev 3	Azamat Kerefov
3	Artem Reznikov	Felipe Froes	Magomed Bibulatov 1	Azamat Pshukov
4	Yusuf Raisov	Kurban Taygibov	Rustam Kerimov 1	Aren Akopyan
5	Mukhamed Kokov	Alexey Polpudnikov	Josiel Silva 1	Anatoliy Kondratiev
6	Herdeson Batista	Marcos Rodrigues	Akhmed Musakaev	Imran Bukuev
7	Alexander Matmuratov	Apti Bimarzaev	Aleksandr Podlesniy	Yunus Evloev
8	Amirkhan Adaev	Gleb Khabibulin	Timur Valiev	Askar Askarov
9	Ali Abdulkhalikov	Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev 1	Maharbek Karginov	Vartan Asatryan
10	Davi Ramos	Davlatmand Chuponov 1	Goga Shamatava	Anis Ekubov

over 93 kg (over 205 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Zelimkhan Umiev def. Israfil Makhashev	ACB 9 Grozny, Russia	Jun 22, 2014	594 days
2	Salimgerey Rasulov	ACB 29 Warsaw, Poland	Feb 6, 2016	244 days
3	Denis Goltsov	ACB 50 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Dec 18, 2016	244 days
4	Mukhomad Vakhaev	ACB 67 Grozny, Russia	Aug 19, 2017	742 days	1. def. Sergey Bilostenniy at ACB 90 on Nov 10, 2018
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
Evgeniy Goncharov and Tony Johnson Jr. fought to a no contest at ACA 96, leaving the belt vacated.[7]
5	Evgeniy Goncharov def. Tony Johnson Jr.	ACA 97 Krasnodar, Russia	Aug 31, 2019	174 days
6	Mukhamad Vakhaev	ACA 104 Krasnodar, Russia	Feb 21, 2020	? days
Mukhamad Vakhaev vacated the title in March 2020 when he chose to test the free agency after the end of his contract with ACA.
7	Tony Johnson Jr. def. Daniel Omielańczuk	ACA 114 Łódź, Poland	Nov 26, 2020	485 days	1. def. Dmitry Poberezhets at ACA 121 on Apr 23, 2021 2. def. Mukhumat Vakhaev at ACA 132 on Nov 19, 2021
8	Salimgerey Rasulov	ACA 138 Grozny, Russia	Mar 26, 2022	154 days
9	Alikhan Vakhaev	ACA 143 Krasnodar, Russia	Aug 27, 2022	202 days
10	Evgeniy Goncharov (2)	ACA 154 Krasnodar, Russia	Mar 17, 2023	627 days (incumbent)	1. def. Anton Vyazigin at ACA 170 on Feb 9, 2024

93 kg (205 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Gadzhimurad Antigulov def. Ruslan Khaskhanov	ACB 9 Grozny, Russia	Jun 22, 2014	? days	1. def. Muslim Makhmudov at ACB 35 on May 6, 2016
Antigulov vacated the title when he signed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
2	Thiago Silva def. Jared Ferguson	ACB 51 Irvine, California, U.S.	Jan 13, 2017	190 days
3	Batraz Agnaev	ACB 65 Sheffield, England	Jul 22, 2017	287 days
4	Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov	ACB 86 Moscow, Russia	May 5, 2018	207 days
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
5	Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov def. Karol Celinski	ACA 92 Warsaw, Poland	Feb 16, 2019	675 days	1. def. Alexey Butorin at ACA 103 on Dec 14, 2019
Yagshimuradov vacated the title on December 22, 2020 when he signed for Bellator MMA.[8]
6	Muslim Magomedov def. Evgeny Egemberdiev	ACA 126 Sochi, Russia	Jul 16, 2021	1236 days (incumbent)	1. def. Grigor Matevosyan at ACA 137 on Mar 6, 2022 2. def. Oleg Olenichev at ACA 148 on Nov 18, 2022

84 kg (185 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Anatoly Tokov def. Arbi Aguev	ACB 38 Rostov-on-Don, Russia	May 20, 2016
Tokov vacated the title on October 1, 2016 when he signed for M-1 Global due to a contract dispute.[9]
2	Albert Duraev def. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky	ACB 77 Moscow, Russia	Dec 23, 2017	? days	1. def. Piotr Strus at ACB 89 on Sept. 8, 2018
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
3	Salamu Abdurakhmanov def. Brett Cooper	ACA 95 Moscow, Russia	Apr 27, 2019	? days	1. def. Valery Myasnikov at ACA 102 on Nov 29, 2019
—	Magomedrasul Gasanov def. Nikola Dipchikov	ACA 121 Minsk, Belarus	Apr 9, 2021	—
Abdurakhmanov vacated the title due to health reasons
4	Magomedrasul Gasanov promoted to undisputed champion	ACA 121 Minsk, Belarus	Apr 9, 2021	1334 days (incumbent)	1. def. Abdul-Rakhman Dzhanaev at ACA 135 on Jan 28, 2022 2. def. Artem Frolov at ACA 143 on Aug 27, 2022 3. def. Salamu Abdurakhmanov at ACA 161 on Aug 11, 2023 4. def. Ibragim Magomedov at ACA 171 on Feb 25, 2024

77 kg (170 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Albert Duraev def. Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov	ACB 22 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Sep 12, 2015	? days	1. def. Michail Tsarev at ACB 35 on May 6, 2016
Duraev was stripped of the title due to him missing weight and his eventual move up to Middleweight.
2	Brett Cooper def. Aslambek Saidov	ACB 50 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Dec 18, 2016	244 days
3	Mukhamed Berkhamov	ACB 67 Grozny, Russia	Aug 19, 2017	? days
Berkhamov was stripped of the title after his refusal to accept 3 title defense match ups.
4	Albert Tumenov def. Ciro Rodrigues	ACB 89 Krasnodar, Russia	Sep 8, 2018	81 days
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
5	Albert Tumenov def. Murad Abdulaev	ACA 95 Moscow, Russia	Apr 27, 2019	216 days	1. def. Beslan Ushukov at ACA 102 on Nov 29, 2019
Tumenov vacated the title in November 2019 when he chose to test the free agency after the end of his contract with ACA.
6	Murad Abdulaev def. Ali Bagov	ACA 110 Moscow, Russia	Sep 5, 2020	174 days
7	Abubakar Vagaev	ACA 118 Moscow, Russia	Feb 26, 2021	658 days
8	Vitaly Slipenko	ACA 149 Moscow, Russia	Dec 16, 2022	217 days
9	Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov	ACA 160 Moscow, Russia	Jul 21, 2023	156 days
10	Albert Tumenov (2)	ACA 168 Moscow, Russia	December 24, 2023	345 days (incumbent)

70 kg (155 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov def. Ali Bagov	ACB 9 Grozny, Russia	Jun 22, 2014	1539 days	1. def. Eduard Vartanyan at ACB 32 on Mar 26, 2016 2. def. Ali Bagov at ACB 48 on Oct 22, 2016 3. def. interim champion Eduard Vartanyan at ACB 77 on Dec 23, 2017
—	Eduard Vartanyan def. Andrey Koshkin for interim title	ACB 71 Moscow, Russia	Sep 30, 2017	—
2	Ali Bagov	ACB 89 Krasnodar, Russia	Sep 8, 2018	81 days
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
3	Ali Bagov def. Khuseyn Khaliev	ACA 99 Moscow, Russia	Sep 27, 2019	? days
Title vacated after Bagov moved up to welterweight.
4	Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov (2) def. Alexander Sarnavskiy	ACA 111 Moscow, Russia	Sep 19, 2020	1536 days (incumbent)	1. def. Hacran Dias at ACA 131 on Nov 5, 2021 2. def. interim champion Mukhamed Kokov at ACA 164 on Oct 4, 2023
—	Mukhamed Kokov def. Hacran Dias for interim title	ACA 154 Krasnodar, Russia	Mar 17, 2023	—

66 kg (145 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defenses
1	Zabit Magomedsharipov def. Sheikh-Magomed Arapkhanov	ACB 31 Grozny, Russia	Mar 29, 2016	137 days	1. def. Valdines Silva at ACB 45 on September 17, 2016
Magomedsharipov vacated the title on May 4, 2017 when he signed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
2	Marat Balayev def. Yusuf Raisov	ACB 50 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Dec 18, 2016	503 days	1. def. Adlan Bataev at ACB 61 on May 20, 2017
—	Yusuf Raisov def. Alexander Peduson	ACB 77 Moscow, Russia	Dec 23, 2017	—
3	Yusuf Raisov	ACB 86 Moscow, Russia	May 5, 2018	207 days
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
4	Salman Zhamaldaev def. Marat Balaev	ACA 93 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Mar 16, 2019	202 days
5	Felipe Froes	ACA 100 Grozny, Russia	Oct 4, 2019	539 days
Froes was stripped of the title on March 26, 2021 after failing to make weight for his title defense against Magomedrasul Khasbulaev at ACA 120.
6	Magomedrasul Khasbulaev def. Felipe Froes	ACA 120 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Mar 26, 2021	? days	1. def. Ramazan Kishev at ACA 131 on Nov 5, 2021
—	Alikhan Suleymanov def. Felipe Froes	AC1 141 Sochi, Russia	Jul 22, 2022	—
Khasbulaev was stripped of the title after he pulled out of three bouts against Suleymanov. Suleymanov was subsequently promoted to undisputed champion.
7	Alikhan Suleymanov def. Felipe Froes	ACA 141 Sochi, Russia	Jul 22, 2022	364 days
8	Islam Omarov	ACA 160 Moscow, Russia	Jul 21, 2023	501 days (incumbent)	1. def. Alexey Polpudnikov at ACA 171 on Feb 25, 2024

61 kg (135 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defense
1	Magomed Magomedov def. Petr Yan	ACB 32 Moscow, Russia	Mar 26, 2016	385 days	1. def. Oleg Borisov at ACB 50 on Dec 18, 2016
2	Petr Yan	ACB 57 Moscow, Russia	Apr 15, 2017	290 days	1. def. Matheus Mattos at ACB 71 on Sep 30, 2017
Yan vacated the title on January 30, 2018 when he signed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
3	Rustam Kerimov def. Oleg Borisov	ACB 83 Baku, Azerbaijan	Mar 24, 2018	249 days
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
4	Rustam Kerimov def. Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev	ACA 93 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Mar 16, 2019	? days	1. def. Francisco Maciel at ACA 103 on Dec 14, 2019
Kerimov vacated the title in December 2019 when he chose to test the free agency after the end of his contract with ACA.
5	Daniel Oliveira def. Shamil Shakhbulatov	ACA 105 Almaty, Kazakhstan	Mar 6, 2020	385 days	1. def. Abdul-Rakhman Dudaev at ACA 112 on Oct 4, 2020
6	Magomed Bibulatov	ACA 120 Saint Petersburg, Russia	Mar 26, 2021	365 days
7	Oleg Borisov	ACA 138 Grozny, Russia	Mar 26, 2022	755 days	1. def. Rustam Kerimov at ACA 154 on Mar 17, 2023
8	Pavel Vitruk	ACA 174 Saint Petersburg, Russia	April 19, 2024	228 days (incumbent)

57 kg (125 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Reign (total)	Defense
1	Askar Askarov def. José Maria Tomé	ACB 48 Moscow, Russia	Oct 22, 2016	767 days	1. def. Anthony Leone at ACB 58 on Apr 22, 2017 2. def. Rasul Albaskhanov at ACB 86 on May 5, 2018
ACB and WFCA merged on November 28, 2018 to become ACA.
2	Yunus Evloev def. Josiel Silva	ACA 95 Moscow, Russia	Apr 27, 2019	? days	1. def. Azam Gaforov at ACA 99 on Sep 27, 2019
Evloev vacated the title in December 2019 for health reasons.
3	Azamat Kerefov def. Mansur Khatuev	ACA 104 Krasnodar, Russia	Feb 21, 2020	597 days	1. def. Kurban Gadzhiev at ACA 113 on Nov 6, 2020 2. def. Rasul Albaskhanov at ACB 127 on Aug 28, 2021
Kerefov vacated the title on October 10, 2021 when he chose to test the free agency.
4	Imran Bukuev def. Aren Akopyan	ACA 136 Moscow, Russia	Feb 26, 2022	364 days
5	Kurban Gadzhiev	ACA 152 Grozny, Russia	Feb 25, 2023	647 days (incumbent)

120 kg (265 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Tsotne Rogava	ACB KB 15 Moscow, Russia	April 20, 2018
1	Jhonata Diniz def. Kirk Krouba	ACB KB 6 Brussels, Belgium	June 5, 2016

84 kg (185 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Artem Levin def. Igor Bugaenko	ACB KB 15 Moscow, Russia	April 20, 2018

77 kg (170 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Perviz Abdullayev def. Islam Baibatyrov	ACB KB 15 Moscow, Russia	April 20, 2018

120 kg (265 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Marcus Almeida	ACB JJ 13 Long Beach, United States	May 5, 2018
2	João Gabriel Rocha	ACB JJ 10 São Paulo, Brazil	January 26, 2018
1	Luiz Panza def. Alexander Trans	ACB JJ 5 Warsaw, Poland	June 22, 2014

95 kg (209 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Felipe Pena def. Adam Wardziński	ACB JJ 12 Almaty, Kazakhstan	April 14, 2018

85 kg (187 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Leandro Lo def. Gabriel Arges	ACB JJ 13 Long Beach, United States	May 5, 2018

75 kg (165 lb)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Lucas Lepri	ACB JJ 14 Moscow, Russia	June 30, 2018
1	Davi Ramos def. Edwin Najmi	ACB JJ 11 Badalona, Spain	March 3, 2018

65 kg (143 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	Paulo Miyao def. Augusto Mendes	ACB JJ 10 São Paulo, Brazil	January 26, 2018	1. def. Osvaldo Moizinho at ACB JJ 12 on April 14, 2018 in Almaty, Kazakhstan

60 kg (132 lbs)

No.	Name	Event	Date	Defenses
Current	João Miyao def. Samir Chantre	ACB JJ 12 Almaty, Kazakhstan	April 14, 2018	1. def. Ary Farias at ACB JJ 14 on June 30, 2018 in Moscow, Russia

Event	Date	Division	Winner	Runner-up
ACB 22	Sep 12, 2015	Lightweight	Ali Bagov	Eduard Vartanyan
		Welterweight	Albert Duraev	Ustarmagomed Gadzhidaudov
ACB 24	Oct 24, 2015	Light Heavyweight	Muslim Makhmudov	Husein Kushagov
		Bantamweight	Petr Yan	Murad Kalamov
		Heavyweight	Salimgerey Rasulov	Michał Andryszak
		Featherweight	Zabit Magomedsharipov	Abdul-Rakhman Temirov
ACB 26	Nov 28, 2015	Flyweight	Velimurad Alkhasov	Ruslan Abiltarov
ACB 38	May 20, 2016	Middleweight	Anatoly Tokov	Arbi Aguev
ACA 159	Jun 16, 2023	Lightweight	Eduard Vartanyan	Artem Reznikov
ACA 178	Aug 10, 2024	Heavyweight

• List of current ACA fighters
• 2014 in Absolute Championship Berkut
• 2015 in Absolute Championship Berkut
• 2016 in Absolute Championship Berkut
• 2017 in Absolute Championship Berkut
• 2018 in Absolute Championship Berkut
• 2019 in Absolute Championship Akhmat
• 2020 in Absolute Championship Akhmat

• ACA at Sherdog
• ACB on FITE