There may have been a little tension between Ilimbek Akylbek and Mehemmedeli Osmanli during their time on TUF 34, but Akylbek isn’t interested in turning Saturday night into some personal grudge match.
As the two get ready to settle things inside the cage, Akylbek says Osmanli presents some interesting challenges, but nothing he hasn’t prepared for before.
“Everything’s going great. It’s going happily right now. We’re really welcoming this opportunity,” Akylbek told Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“This is not the first time I’m on such a big stage with such a big fight. Everything’s alright.”
Akylbek admitted there was a little tension between the two during sparring for TUF 34, but he’s not trying to turn it into some personal beef. Whatever happened in the gym stays there, and now he just wants to settle everything inside the cage.
“Yeah there was a little bit of a conflict at the end of the season, but it was during the sparring,” he said.
“There’s nothing personal to me. It’s not something I want to say that it’s a personal thing between me and him. I want to call it just specifically sports, sometimes things like that happen in sports, in training, in sparring. My job is to come out there in the octagon and make sure I answer all the questions and take the victory.”
“I wouldn’t say that he’s the toughest opponent that I’ve had. I think maybe people are singling him out because he’s tall, he’s a lefty, maybe that’s why. He’s kind of a little awkward. In that way, potentially,” said Akylbek.
“But I’m not singling him out as somebody who’s tougher than the other opponents that I had. I think that every opponent is tough, every fight is important, I prepared for all of them. My job is to come out there and get the victory by any means necessary.”
Watch the entire interview with Ilimbek Akylbek above. He faces Mehemmedeli Osmanli for the TUF 34 Finale at UFC Vegas 121 on Saturday night.