WICHITA, Kan. – Unbeaten in his past four fights, and with his first middleweight win in more than five years, Omari Akhmedov wants to keep the momentum going.
Akhmedov (18-4-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC) opened up the UFC on ESPN+ 4 main card Saturday night with a unanimous decision win over Tim Boetsch (21-13 MMA, 12-12 UFC). Akhmedov swept the judges’ cards with a trio of 30-27 scores.
The victory came after a layoff of more than a year. At 3-0-1 in his past four, and back in the win column after a draw with Marvin Vettori in his December 2017 return to middleweight, Akhmedov is eyeing the potential for a quick return.
“I’m not injured, so I’m ready to go,” Akhmedov told MMA Junkie through a translator backstage after his win. “Either UFC Sunrise or UFC St. Petersburg, I’m ready for either/or if the UFC gives me an opponent. I have to fight before May before Ramadan, so I’m ready.”
Akhmedov’s win over Boetsch came at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan. The event streamed on ESPN+.
If Akhmedov, from Dagestan, finds a spot on UFC on ESPN+ 7 in St. Petersburg, Russia, he can fight in front of a friendly crowd. That turnaround would be just six weeks away. His other option takes place the following week when UFC on ESPN 3 goes down in Sunrise, Fla., a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.
The latter option would be ideal for him, as well, since he trains at American Top Team in South Florida. But not getting on either of those would shelve him until into the summer, it would appear, since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan takes place from May 5 to June 4 and will have Akhmedov fasting from dawn till sunset every day.
And another layoff might not be what the 31-year-old is hoping for.
“I had a long layoff – I missed my (UFC) Moscow fight (this past September) because of injury,” Akhmedov said. “I came to the U.S. and I’ve been here for half a year. I wanted to plan for a fight. I didn’t want to take any chances. I’m really happy with my performance and happy to be victorious.”
For more from Akhmedov, including his thoughts on Boetsch continued to push forward despite a potentially broken nose, check out the video above.
And for complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 4, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
