SUMMARY
- ONE 166: Qatar takes place this Friday on March 1.
- In the main event, Anatoly Malykhin is set to fight Reinier de Ridder for the mma middleweight championship.
Two-weight ONE MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin is brimming with confidence ahead of his date with history at ONE 166: Qatar this Friday.
“Sladkiy” will headline the promotion’s landmark debut in Qatar when he challenges Reinier de Ridder for the latter’s ONE Middleweight MMA World Title at Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail on March 1.
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If he can get the job done once again, Malykhin will become the first MMA athlete in history to win World Titles in three weight classes. The historic bout sits atop a stacked card that features two more World Title rematches, and a slew of top talent from the Middle East region.
Anatoly Malykhin plans to crush Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar
Anatoly Malykhin is confident that he will become the first triple champion in MMA history when he rematches Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar. But before he can think about “The Dutch Knight,” his first battle will be against the scales. Malykhin has never fought below the light heavyweight limit, providing an intriguing wrinkle to his upcoming fight. If successful against De Ridder for a second time, the Russian powerhouse isn’t ruling out the possibility of reigning over all three divisions moving forward.
“At heavyweight, my skills allow me to consider myself the best. I have no weaknesses. And I’m one of the best light heavyweights, for sure. I can’t say that about myself in the middleweight division because this will be my first fight in this weight, and it would be arrogant to say that I’m the best without ever having fought in it,” he said.
“First of all, the plan now is to see how I feel at 93 kilograms [205 pounds]. If it goes well and I feel fine, then I will defend all the belts. The more fights, the better for me. It’s simple. I love to fight.”
Malykhin dispatched De Ridder inside one round to wrest the ONE Light Heavyweight MMA World Title away in their first meeting back in 2022. Then he added the heavyweight MMA gold to his collection with a three-round demolition of Arjan Bhullar last year. Although more than a year has passed since his crushing win over De Ridder the first time, the 36-year-old doesn’t see how things will be any different this time around.
“Surely he has already drawn conclusions from our previous encounter, but what could he do since then?” Malykhin said. “I don’t think he’s learned how to fight in the stand-up, or how to punch hard, or how to freestyle wrestle.”
De Ridder, for his part, will see his world-class submission game as his likely path to victory against Malykhin. The middleweight MMA king has been focusing on his grappling in recent times, with his only appearance in 2023 coming under submission grappling rules in what was a razor-thin decision defeat to American phenom Tye Ruotolo.