Anatoly Malykhin on potential Reinier de Ridder rematch: “Me calling him out is serious”

Anatoly Malykhin isn’t letting the opportunity for a third world title pass him by.

The reigning ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion looks to continue his rivalry with Reinier de Ridder and claim the ONE middleweight world title for himself.

Malykhin already owns a world title win over de Ridder, and he wants to make sure that the Dutch superstar won’t have any gold before the year ends.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Malykhin said:

“I think de Ridder has already understood everything about me, and he definitely understands that me calling him out is serious. I think he understood what really is going on.”

Malykhin and de Ridder fought each other for the first time at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December for the ONE light heavyweight world title.

De Ridder was the reigning world champion, but Malykhin took the opportunity and the gold in arguably the most dominant display ever seen inside the Circle.

Malykhin, who was the ONE interim heavyweight world champion at that time, was a rampaging bull that connected with deadly precision, ultimately leading to a one-sided beatdown and a first-round knockout.

‘Sladkiy’ then furthered his growing legend when he captured undisputed heavyweight gold in his last match in ONE Championship.

The Russian sledgehammer closed his feud with Indian star Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22 in June, officially making him an undisputed world champion in two divisions.

Though his heavyweight battle against Bhullar was the longest he’s been in a ONE Championship match, the level of force Malykhin displayed in his third-round KO win was still unparalleled.

Malykhin bludgeoned Bhullar for more than 10 minutes to bolden his argument as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.