Having recently left the UFC, Albert Tumenov is set to make his promotional debut for new employers Absolute Championship Berkut against former TUF 21 competitor Marcelo Alfaya.
Despite enjoying a 5-3 record during his UFC tenure, Tumenov (17-4) decided to head back home after a two fight losing streak and signed a contract with rising Russian promotion ACB earlier this month.
Although the show is yet to be announced through the official channels, Alfaya (18-7-0 1NC) revealed the match-up in a Facebook post and would later confirm to MMAFighting.com that a May 20 date in St. Petersburg, Russia has been set for the bout.
The Russian welterweight recently took to his and the ACB Instagram page to fire shots at his former promotion stating that the contract offer he received from the UFC was unacceptable and that he no longer wanted to be in a promotion that was “moving more and more away from a sport towards being a show”.
25-year-old “Einstein” also hit back at the critics who say he is taking a step backwards in his career by saying he believes “ACB is the fastest growing promotion in the world”.
Losing his last two UFC fights to Leon Edwards and Gunnar Nelson, Tumenov had put together a five fight winning streak prior to the defeats. These included wins over top welterweights Lorenz Larkin and Alan Jouban with his only other loss coming to Ildemar Alcantara on his UFC debut back in 2014.
Brazilian journeyman Alfaya, 37, has previously faced big names such as Jon Fitch and Jake Ellenberger in short spells at both WSOF and Bellator respectively, before being eliminated from TUF 21 at the first hurdle by Jason Jackson.
Since then, “Grilo” has found success fighting in Russia, having won his last two fights, including his ACB debut against Beslan Isaev at ACB 50: Stormbringer back in December which saw him also pick up a ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.
