Turkish sensation Halil “No Mercy” Amir has been working with MMA royalty as he prepares for his high-stakes showdown against Akbar “Bakal” Abdullaev in U.S. primetime at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova on Prime Video.

On May 3, Amir will move down from lightweight to make his featherweight debut against the surging Kyrgyz knockout artist in front of a raucous Thai crowd at Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

Halil Amir explains his outing with Khabib Nurmagomeodv

Undefeated across 10 professional fights, including a trio of impressive victories in ONE Championship, “No Mercy” has established himself as one of MMA’s top talents and fastest-rising contenders. Abdullaev, though, represents an incredibly stiff test. The 26-year-old boasts a 100 percent finishing rate and, like Amir, a pristine 10-0 career record.

Well aware of the immense challenge before him, Amir recently paid a visit to retired MMA icon Khabib Nurmagomedov at his academy in Russia In an interview, he told ONE Championship: “Khabib did several training sessions. For me, it was a very good experience. He has hard training at his school.”

While the Turkish star possesses skills in all areas of MMA, he tends to do his best work with his venomous striking game – evidenced by his pair of highlight-reel knockouts in the world’s largest martial arts organization.

‘No  Mercy’ is not taking his fight lightly

For that reason, Halil Amir was happy to brush up on his ground game under the tutelage of one the most dominant grapplers in MMA history: “Khabib always has strict discipline during training. Naturally, the work was focused on wrestling and grappling.” he added.

That grappling work could pay off against Abdullaev – a fighter known primarily for his stand-up attack. Beyond picking up some pointers on his grappling, Amir also got to know Nurmagomedov as a coach. He spoke about the retired Russian: “As a person, he is a very simple person. He is often immersed in training and helps his team and, of course, he was also pushing me during the training sessions.”

Nonetheless, their fight is set to take place at the ONE Fight Night 22. Who do you think will clinch the victory in their bout? Will it be Halil Amir or will it be Akbar Abdullaev? State your thoughts in the comments below.