It’s time to face the facts. We bring the mixed martial arts to a new level. Let's face it. In 2016 there were a lot of good tournaments in Russian MMA, but can you remember offhand the one in which at least three fights in the card were interesting? And here we are talking about the competitive bouts, not the big names who participated in them. About the fights where it would be impossible to predict the result just by looking at the names of the fighters. And it is this principle that should underlie the matchmaking of any organization.
Throughout the year the ACB League has been trying to please the audience with equal bouts, but none of the tournaments can be compared with card of the jubilee event. The cliché "martial arts holiday" is not very appropriate in this case because the word "holiday" clearly can’t describe what will be happening at Sibur Arena on December18. 13 fights, each having its own history and intrigue. And indeed, not all participants regularly appear in the press and on TV. But again we return to the question of what do we love MMA for? For fights or for conversations? We would sincerely like to believe that the fans of our league will choose the first option.
Let us at least recall the fights Yan - Magomedov or Tokov - Aguyev that just blew up all the Internet space. Before the fight only ardent MMA fans knew these guys, and after it the masses started talking about them. And at ACB 50 each fight is a potential "Jan Magomedov" one. Three will be title fights, including a heavyweight one, a super-confrontation Duraev-Vasilevsky, two amazing lightweight fights with Saul Rogers and Alexander Sarnavsky, the return of the Dentist, concurrently the MMA fighter Ilya Shcheglov, a performance of Russian "Dan Henderson" Marat Balaev, a fight of one of the best welterweights in Russia Beslan Isaev, another appearance of a talented prospect Yusuf Raisov in the cage, Alexei Butorin’s debut in the league, and much more.
This tournament just can not be boring. Our league has been proceeding to this event for almost three years. There were mistakes, problems and setbacks, but it only allowed us to make the right conclusions and to introduce adjustments in our work. And now we are proud to present absolutely the best tournament in Russian MMA. You can agree or attempt to dispute this statement, but the fact remains. Russian mixed martial arts have not yet seen such a powerful and balanced card. To go or not to go, to watch it or not – decide for yourself. But ask yourself - would you have very much regret if you missed such a significant and powerful event?
