Anatoliy
Malykhin is brimming with confidence ahead of his second
meeting with Reinier
de Ridder at
ONE 166: Qatar on Friday at the Lusail Sports Arena in
Qatar.
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Malykhin (13-0) faced de Ridder (16-1) for the first time in
December 2022, taking the Dutchman’s light heavyweight title via a
brutal Round 1 technical knockout. “Sladkiy” has since knocked out
Arjan
Singh Bhullar this past June in a heavyweight title unification
bout. The undefeated Russian will make a triple champ bid in the
main event of ONE
Championship’s Qatar debut with de Ridder’s middleweight
(205-pound) title on the line.
Malykhin predicted a similar outcome to their first fight during
his appearance at the ONE 166 pre-fight press conference.
“I’m ready for this Friday. I’m gonna go and get my third belt,” he
said. “I’m gonna knock him out the same way I did before. I’m
thankful for this opportunity. I cannot explain how excited I am to
be here on Friday and show everybody what I’ve got.
“Three-belt time, three-belt time. Look at this right hand — this
is gonna knock him back out to sleep this Friday.”
Meanwhile, “The Dutch Knight” plans on keeping things low key
leading up to the rematch, where he’ll look to correct his first
career loss.
“[This fight] is about one thing — he beat me last time, he hurt
me,” de Ridder said. “I’ve got a year to prepare for this, I
grinded every single day, and I’m ready to showcase my skills this
time.
“I’m planning to be a bit more humble this time… I believe I have
the skills to finish him.”