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.
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.