ONE Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight MMA World Champion Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin will look to take everything from middleweight kingpin Reinier “The Dutch Knight” de Ridder, and make history in the process.
Malykhin challenges De Ridder for the ONE Middleweight MMA World Title in what’s expected to be a loaded ONE 166: Qatar card at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha on 1 March.
A win for Malykhin would make him the first MMA fighter to hold World Titles in three different divisions simultaneously.
It was against De Ridder where Malykhin became a two-division MMA World Champion, beating the Dutchman at ONE Fight Night 5 inside the Mall of Asia Arena in December 2022.
And it was far from pretty.
Malykhin dominated the erstwhile unbeaten De Ridder from start to finish, showing impeccable takedown defense while having his way with the submission specialist in the striking exchanges en route to a merciful TKO finish in round one.
Malykhin doesn’t see this fight ending differently—other than it being shorter this time.
“Sleep time, one minute,” Malykhin proclaimed on social media.
That type of confidence stems from the fact that he wasn’t even touched by De Ridder the first time they fought. However, that could mean he’ll be taking on a wounded animal looking for revenge.
Unlike their first match, there isn’t much chatter from De Ridder this time. But best believe that he’s been working on his striking.
The 33-year-old has been seen refining his striking throughout 2023, working with several renowned boxing camps in the Netherlands, like Hemmers Gym.
He’ll need all the boxing training in the world to at least give him a fighting chance to close the distance against the Russian behemoth and work on his world-class grappling.
The pair will be the second World Title fight on a card in which ONE has promised five championship bouts in Qatar.
Already announced for the card is the rematch between ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks and Filipino dynamo Joshua “The Passion” Pacio.
Some of Malykhin’s heavyweight rivals will also be throwing down. On that night, former ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion Arjan Bhullar takes on Iranian wrestling machine Amir Aliakbari.
