ACA are disappointed to announce that the lightweight title fight between Ali Bagov and Khusein Khaliev has been cancelled. This morning, after Khaliev weighed in on weight for his bout, Ali Bagov stepped on the scales 1.75kgs over weight and despite still having over two hours left to make weight refused to do so.
ACA matchmaker and management explained the situation to Khaliev and despite the issue with Ali’s weight he still agreed to the fight. We explained to Ali Bagov that because he missed weight for this title fight he would no longer be eligible to win the belt. Upon hearing this he told us – no belt then no fight.
As he did not make the allotted and agreed weight for this bout we, as a promotion, cannot and will not agree to change the rules for one fighter especially when there is a championship belt on the line.
ACA have done all they can to keep this fight on the card and despite all negotiations this morning Ali Bagov is still refusing to fight. In light of these actions ACA are suspending Ali Bagov for 6 months for breach of contract.
We would like to apologise to all fans that were excited to see this fight take place and bought tickets in the hope of seeing this fight live. Again, we did all we could to make this fight happen, and we as are many, are very disappointed to have been let down in such a way.