[1] The pairing were supposed to have met previously in March 2018 at ACA 94, but Vakhaev was unable to compete due to health problems.
This event featured a title fight for the vacant ACA Bantamweight Championship between the Russian Shamil Shakhbulatov and the Brazilian Daniel Oliveira as headliner.
The event was initially scheduled to be held on March 24, 2020, at the Sibur Arena in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but it was postponed to July 11, 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The event was initially planned to be held on April 7, 2020, at the VTB Arena in Moscow, Russia, but was postponed to July 24 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The event was initially scheduled to be held on April 24, 2020, at the Arena COS Torwar in Warsaw, Poland, but due to the coronavirus outbreak it was postponed to August 8, 2020 in Russia.
ACA featherweight world champion Felipe Froes missed weight ahead of his fight against Marat Balaev and will not be eligible to retain the belt even if he wins.
However, after making weight, he consulted with his lawyers and decided to refuse fighting because of the U.S. Department of Treasury and Great Britain's sanctions policy against Kadyrov and any organization owned by him, this including Absolute Championship Akhmat.
Under these sanctions, it is illegal for any US citizen to do business with any of these entities, meaning that all American fighters could face fines or jail time if they fight for the organization.