On March 1, 2024, the internationally renowned sports IP ONE Championship landed in Qatar to host ONE 166. In the main event of the Middleweight Mixed Martial Arts World Championship, ONE Middleweight World Champion Reinier "The Dutch Knight" De Ridder takes on light heavyweight and heavyweight "double" Anatoly Malykhin. Riddle lost the light heavyweight belt by a one-round knockout by Malykhin in his opening bout, and this time he came prepared to redeem himself with revenge on Malykhin. Malykhin wants to make history by defeating his old rival and claiming his third World Title belt. It was a great game with twists and turns.
The tiger came out of the mountain, and Malykhin's tactics did not change.
Due to ONE Championship's emphasis on weight loss safety and the elimination of significant dehydration, Malykhin is two laps smaller than before, and although he has lost weight, he still does not change his ferocious style of play. Malykhin opened the scoring with a heavy punch and slammed Riddle. Riddle wanted to get into his area and look for an opportunity to strangle his rival on the ground, so he tangled his rival and tried to take Malykhin down with a stumbling leg. But he underestimated Malykhin's power and takedown defense, and instead was forced by Malykhin to interfere with small punches on the Circle Wall.
In the highlight moments of the striking, Riddle countered and brought down Malykhin.
Riddle didn't have much to do with the Circle Wall, so he had to pull away first. Riddle used his reach advantage in the retreat to suddenly unleash punches that hit Malykhin right and knocked his opponent down. Malykhin suffered from his reach in a long-range striking matchup, so he closed the distance and continued to push his rival to the Circle Wall and look for a boxing combination. Riddle was clearly prepared after the first fight. In the second round, Malykhin continued to punch hard, and Riddle showed off his knees to meet the eye.
Miracles are a great thing! Malykhin accomplished the feat of "Triple Crown".
In the second half of the second round, Ma Lykhin tirelessly performed punches, and Riddle reacted to the injury and did not dare to resist head-on, so he could only keep moving left and right, and the scene gradually became passive. In the third round, Malykhin, who saw the dawn of victory, was full of firepower and smashed Riddle with consecutive heavy punches. Riddle attempted a takedown, but was pinned down by Malykhin with punches and knees. These heavy blows prevented Riddle from getting up as instructed by the referee after the two were separated, and the referee decisively stopped the match. Malykhin won the challenge with a TKO victory at 1:16 of round 3. His spectacular performance earned him a US$50,000 performance bonus from ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
I'm a legend and my dream has come true! ”
The victory not only rewrote Malykhin's professional record to 14 wins and 100 percent finishes, but also made him a three-division World Champion with all three belts wrapped around his body. After the game, Malykhin praised his opponent and showed his kingly bearing. I'm a legend and my dream has come true! I get up at 4 a.m. every day to train and I am very happy with the results. Riddle is the strongest of my opponents, and we're all the best fighters in the world. Riddle has a heart as strong as a stone! ”
Dominating the three divisions means there will be more fighters ready to challenge Malykhin, and who would you like to see Malykhin fight against in the future?