Anatoly Malykhin says potential rematch new heavyweight MMA king ‘Reug Reug’ is his priority: “At the top of my list”

Anatoly Malykhin is focused on regaining the ONE heavyweight MMA world title.

On Nov. 8, Malykhin's run as an undefeated professional MMA fighter ended. The now-two-division world champion attempted to defend his heavyweight throne in the ONE 169 main event, with 'Reug Reug' Oumar Kane pulling off the upset.

Heading into 2025, Malykhin's priority isn't defending his middleweight and light heavyweight world title. Instead, the Russian powerhouse plans to pursue a rematch against 'Reug Reug,' which he explained during an interview with ONE:

“In 2025, I want to focus on the heavyweight division. Of course, ‘Reug Reug’ is at the top of my list. I think a rematch with him is inevitable because our first fight was so close. We need a second fight to settle it."

Before losing against 'Reug Reug,' Anatoly Malykhin held a professional MMA record of 6-1, including six wins in ONE Championship. All of Malykhin's fights, besides his split decision against 'Reug Reug,' have ended inside the distance.

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Anatoly Malykhin plans to fight three times in 2025

Anatoly Malykhin is understandably focused on avenging his lone loss against 'Reug Reug' Oumar Kane. On the contrary, Malykhin will need to fight more in 2025 than in previous years to ensure the middleweight and light heavyweight title pictures don't stall.

During the previously mentioned interview with ONE, Malykhin had this to say about wanting to fight twice after a rematch against 'Reug Reug':

“After that, I want to defend my belt twice. Whoever ONE Championship decides to match me with, I’ll fight. I never back down from a challenge.”

Anatoly Malykhin made his ONE Championship debut in 2021, fighting twice in the calendar year against Alexandre Machado and Amir Aliakbari.

The Russian knockout artist maintained a similar schedule in 2022, defeating Kirill Grishenko for the interim heavyweight heavyweight title and Reinier de Ridder for the undisputed light heavyweight

Aliakbari's least active year was 2023, as he only fought once for the undisputed heavyweight world title against Arjan Bhullar.

The past twelve months have featured two fights for Malykhin, a middleweight title-winning performance against De Ridder, and the split decision against 'Reug Reug' Oumar Kane for the heavyweight strap.