A fight that has perhaps been slightly overlooked from ACB 87 is an encounter which pits a returning veteran face to face with a surging prospect.
Andre Winner (21-11-2) has been a staple in the European MMA scene ever since his 2009 Ultimate Fighter run which saw him take on Ross Pearson in an all-UK final. Following a 2-3 run in the promotion, Winner returned to the European circuit, competing against fighters such as Rob Sinclair, Mateusz Gamrot, Artem Lobov and Colin Fletcher. After a career resurgence in 2014, Winner would go 1-3 in his last four hasn’t competed since 2016.
Adam Aliev (8-2) is a former Lightweight who made the switch to Welterweight last year. With an extremely active fight schedule, Aliev has won his last 6 fights, 5 of which under the ACB banner. The biggest win of his career came last January at ACB 78, where Aliev would take out Ednilson Barros in the third round by KO.
Winner is a talented fighter wherever the fight goes, with comfortable striking and an intelligent grappling game. While a fighter with a strong speciality can take him out of his gameplan, there are few fighters well rounded enough to completely outclass this 34 fight veteran.
Adam Aliev is a little small for the weight class, meaning reach could be an issue against a slick striker like Winner, but Aliev packs a lot of power and is extremely crafty with spinning attacks.
I imagine this fight will probably be a striking match. Winner should be able to land some smooth strikes at distance, pushing the pace, but with a tendency to keep his hands quite low he’ll open himself up to a huge Adam Aliev counter punch.
Ring rust could play a factor for Andre Winner, but he’s been around the game long enough to make sure he’s done all the relevant training coming into this fight.
Andre Winner Vs Adam Aliev will go down at ACB 87, which takes place in Nottingham, England. Also featuring on the card are fighters such as Takeya Mizugaki, Pietro Menga, Tim Wilde, Robert Whiteford, Kane Mousah, Rob Emerson and Piotr Strus.
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