Prestige FC officials announced the bantamweight addition to the fight card on Monday. Prestige FC 2: Queen City Coronation will be held at The Orr Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan and will broadcast live on The Fight Network and on Access 7.
Zahabi trains at Tristar Training Centre in Montreal under the tutelage of his older brother Firas, who will be in his corner on fight night.
“I’m happy that Prestige FC has invited me to fight on their show against a skilled opponent,” said Zahabi. “This fight against Kyle Oliveira will be my toughest to date which motivates me that much more.”
Zahabi has finished all five of his opponents in the opening round, including back-to-back knockouts in his last two outings. He last fought in Oct. 2015 and stopped Ontario’s Jeremy Dichiara (3-1) with punches in just 18-seconds.
Aimeann’s longest fight to date? Four-minutes and forty-seconds, an ankle lock submission of Wesley Bowman (0-2) in Nov. 2014.
There’s no doubt Aimeann Zahabi is a 135-pounder to keep an eye on. While he has yet to face a name opponent, he only turned pro in 2012 and he’s under the coaching and training of some of the best in the world. Can he reach Georges St-Pierre star status or even Rory MacDonald, two fighters who have also been groomed by Firas at Tristar? It’s too early to tell about that, but Aimeann appears to be well on his way.
Next stop though is a date with Oliveira. The 24-year-old Winnipeg Academy of MMA product has finished two of his three wins via knockout, but expects many people will consider him the underdog.
“Nobody should base anything on what building you train in,” said Oliveira. “The ones that watch me and know me know I shouldn’t be considered an underdog. It was a difficult start to the year with fights falling through on me in January and February. That has me going through knockout withdrawal and I intend on remedying that.”
Oliveira has been on the shelf since Oct. 2014 when he won a unanimous decision over Corey “The Hatchet” Gower (5-3) at MFC 41.
Here’s the updated Prestige FC 2 card:
- Nick Rhoads vs. Kurt Southern – featherweight title
- Jessy Miele vs. Charmaine Tweet – featherweight title
- Keith Smetana vs. Devon Smith – middleweight
- Curtis Demarce vs. Adam Lorenz – featherweight
- Micah Brakefield vs. Mariusz Ksiazkiewicz – middleweight
- Thomas Richardson vs. Sheldon Leblanc – welterweight
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Kyle Oliveira – bantamweight
- Chris Day vs. Sean Quinn – bantamweight
- Dan Amyotte vs. Nick Campbell – catchweight (220 lbs.)
- Damian Johnston vs. Matt Zemlak – welterweight
- Josh Rich vs. Brad Katona – bantamweight
- Josh Goodheart vs. Dallyn Wirachowsky – lightweight
- Corey Chambers vs. Ryan Wesaquate – featherweight
- Ricky Guillen vs. Justin Schmit – middleweight
- Myles Anderson vs. Ryan Rohovich – lightweight
- Don Westman vs. Jamie Michaels – light-heavyweight
Get an idea for Aiemann Zahabi’s skills in this video of his fight against Scott Farhat (7-9) in March of last year.