Two-division king Anatoly Malykhin certain Reinier de Ridder “has nightmares” of him ahead of epic ONE 166 clash in Qatar

ONE Championship light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin is already in the discussion as one of the best fighters to grace the promotion thanks to an impressive career thus far.

‘Sladkiy’ has been undefeated in five fights since debuting under the world’s largest martial arts promotion and he plans to extend that streak to six come March 1.

On that date, Malykhin will be challenging Reinier de Ridder for his ONE middleweight MMA world championship in the main event of ONE 166 inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

Their first matchup was a disaster for ‘The Dutch Knight’ as Malykhin’s boxing dominance was on full display from the opening bell and eventually lost the fight, plus the ONE light heavyweight MMA world championship, in a first-round TKO.

Now, Malykhin is looking to be ONE Championship’s first-ever three-division MMA world champion at the expense of de Ridder once again.

ONE Championship recently shared the final sequence of Malykhin’s crowning glory against de Ridder on Instagram, with this quote from the Russian star:

“I’m sure he has nightmares of me knocking him out every day, over and over again.”

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Reinier de Ridder reflects on defeat to Anatoly Malykhin

Being on the losing end of any fight could make an athlete grow bitter or find enlightenment and for de Ridder, the loss to Malykhin brought out the latter.

The Dutch star pointed out the mistakes he made prior to fighting Malykhin, particularly his “losing track” of what made him such a world-class fighter in the first place.

Avenging his loss and ending Malykhin’s unstoppable run in the promotion will certainly propel him to pull out all the stops at ONE 166.

ONE 166 is available live and free on Prime Video in the United States and Canada.