Omari Akhmedov was born in Kizlyar, Dagestan ASSR in what was then the Soviet Union. He began training freestyle wrestling as a child before transitioning to combat sambo and army hand-to-hand combat (ARB). Akhmedov is an International Master of Sport in both disciplines and a 2nd Dan black belt in ARB. Akhmedov is a two-time Russian pankration champion, a two-time Russian ARB champion, and a one-time Dagestan combat sambo champion. Akhmedov was working in his family's business and studying at Dagestan State Institute of National Economy when he first discovered mixed martial arts. He made his professional MMA debut only a year after he began training. Akhmedov cross-trains out of DagFighter in Makhachkala, Russia and American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. 

Akhmedov began his MMA career by going 12-1 across various Russian regional promotions, with ten of his twelve victories coming by stoppage. His lone loss from his pre-UFC career was against future Bellator fighter Michail Tsarev by second-round guillotine choke. Akhmedov made his UFC debut on October 9, 2013 at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson 2. He defeated Thiago Perpetuo via first-round KO and won Fight of the Night Honors. Despite having previously competed at Middleweight and Light Heavyweight and Middleweight, Akhmedov's next fight would be at Welterweight against Gunnar Nelson at UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa. Nelson would submit Akhmedov in the first round via guillotine choke. Akhmedov would win four of his next six fights with decision victories over Mats Nilsson (UFC 182), Kyle Noke (UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson), and Abdul Razak Alhassan (UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira) and a TKO victory over Brian Ebersole (UFC Fight Night: Boetsch vs. Henderson). He also lost back-to-back TKOs to Sergio Moraes (UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs. VanZant) and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans). The dos Santos fight won Fight of the Night Honors. 

In 2017, Akhmedov would return to Middleweight and face Marvin Vettori at UFC 219. Akhmedov's pressure and power shots won him the first two rounds, but he gassed in the third round and was nearly finished. Sal D'Amato and Tony Weeks scored that round 10-8 Vettori, leading to a majority draw (Glenn Trowbridge had it 29-28 Vettori). Akhmedov would bounce back with three straight unanimous decision wins over Tim Boetsch (UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. dos Santos), Zak Cummings (UFC 242), and Ian Heinisch (UFC 245). Akhmedov would then face former UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Weidman at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik. Weidman had lost five of his previous six fights via KO/TKO. Nevertheless, Weidman defeated Akhmedov via unanimous decision. Akhmedov would beat Tom Breese via second-round arm-triangle choke (UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny) and lose to Brad Tavares via split decision (UFC 264) before being released by the UFC on July 15, 2021.

Later that year, Akhmedov would sign with the Professional Fighters' League and return to Light Heavyweight, making his promotional debut at PFL 10 (2021 Season). Akhmedov would lose to Jordan Young via third-round TKO. 2022 would be a much better year for Akhmedov; he would defeat Viktor Pešta via KO (PFL 1: 2022 Regular Season) and Teodoras Aukštuolis via arm-triangle choke (PFL 4: 2022 Regular Season) to advance to the PFL Playoffs. Akhmedov would face Josh Silveira (the son of Akhmedov's long-time coach Conan Silveira) at PFL 7: 2022 Playoffs. Akhmedov defeated Silveira via unanimous decision to the PFL Championships. He is set to face fellow UFC veteran Rob Wilkinson for the PFL Light Heavyweight Championship on November 25, 2022.