Anatoly Malykhin says Reug Reug ‘sucks’ and won’t last the distance

Reigning three-division ONE world champion Anatoly Malykhin is not overly fond of Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane's skills inside the Circle.

After his history-making knockout of Reinier de Ridder to claim the middleweight MMA world title—adding it to a collection that already includes the heavyweight and light heavyweight belts—'Sladkiy' will return to the Circle on Friday, November 8 when ONE Championship makes its highly anticipated debut at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

There, Malykhin will put his ONE heavyweight MMA world championship on the line against Senegalese standout Oumar Kane in the ONE 169 main event.

'Reug Reug' earned his shot with a unanimous decision victory over 17-time BJJ world champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida at ONE Fight Night 13 last August. But as impressive as that win was, Malykhin doesn't see Kane offering him much of a challenge in the United States.

“He’s slow, can’t time punches for the life of him, and his cardio sucks," Malykhin told ONE Championship in a recent interview. "Three rounds and he’s gassed, and this is a five-rounder.”

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Anatoly Malykhin has all the gold—now he has to defend it

Anatoly Malykhin has looked practically unstoppable since making his ONE Championship debut more than three years ago. Starting with wins over Alexandre Machado and Amir Aliakbari, 'Sladkiy' scored his first shot at gold, challenging Kirill Grishenko for the interim ONE heavyweight strap.

He put away Grishenko in the second round to take home his first title. He followed that up with a stunning first-round KO of de Ridder to win the light heavyweight title. He'd score a third belt to his collection, dispatching 'The Dutch Knight' once again, adding middleweight MMA gold to his mantle.

But not before practically walking through Arjan Bhullar, trading in his interim heavyweight belt for undisputed gold in the process.

With 78 pounds of gold in his possession, Anatoly Malykhin will now begin the hardest part of the journey—defending his titles.

Following this link to register for ONE 169: Atlanta pre-sale tickets.