Having been forced to cancel their original Stateside location due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’, Absolute Championship Berkut will instead return to the UK this month for ACB 65.
Although not yet confirmed by the Russian promotion, the Sheffield Arena sent out a press release yesterday to announce that the show would be taking place at their venue and tickets are currently available for purchase through their website.
The event, which takes place on Saturday, July 22 at Sheffield Arena’s Iron Hall, will mark the first time ACB gold has been contested on these shores as ACB Light-Heavyweight champion Thiago Silva will defend his title against the undefeated Russian, Batraz Agnaev.
The card is also set to feature one of Britain’s own biggest prospects, featherweight Brendan Loughnane, as he takes on UFC veteran “Bam Bam” Pat Healy in the evening’s co-main event and another former UFC fighter Thiago Tavares will make his ACB debut.
Originally scheduled to take place in Anaheim, California, it was announced by Denis Geyko of rt.com last week that ACB 65 would be moved to a European location due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Although no more information was released, speculation on social media has pointed to both visa issues for Russian fighters and the recent homophobic comments made by ACB owner Mairbek Khasiev in response to sponsorship negotiations with Nike as potential reasons for the location change.
Stay tuned to MMA Plus for further news and updates on this story.
