Anatoly Malykhin will try to snatch the gold from middleweight MMA champ Reinier De Ridder at the One Championship 166 event in Qatar. In case the Russian succeeds, it will be his third belt, adding to his current light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA titles in the promotion.
Malykhin still has a clean record under One Championship. Despite only starting in 2021 and having five bouts in total, the Russian already possesses two titles. Malykhin met De Ridder In one of those bouts, with the latter losing to the Russian via a first-round KO in December 2022. Now, the Singapore-based promotion plans to put the two inside the ring again.
This will be a huge chance for Malykhin to make a mark in One Championship by becoming its first talent to ever hold three belts. Fortunately for him, with his history with De Ridder, achieving this is not impossible.
Yet, the Russian will certainly face a desperate opponent in this bout. Aside from his earlier loss to Malykhin, De Ridder is currently enduring a two-fight skid, with the latest loss given by Tye Ruotolo in May. This fact doesn’t also make De Ridder an easy opponent. Prior to his losses, the Dutch had a six-fight winning streak, which was broken by a draw decision when he fought Andre Galvao in March 2022.
