Aung La N Sang saw Anatoly Malykhin’s KO of Reinier de Ridder play out in his head

ONE Championship icon Aung La N Sang anticipated Anatoly Malykhin’s spectacular first-round knockout of former two-division titleholder Reinier de Ridder in the ONE on Prime Video 5 main event. Discussing the champion vs. champion clash with ONE Championship, ‘The Burmese Python’ said:

“I expected it. I saw it going two ways. Either Anatoly knocks him out or Reinier tires him out. Anatoly has big power, and he was coming down from heavyweight, so he still had that heavyweight power.”

Clashing in ONE Championship’s penultimate event of 2022, Anatoly Malykhin kept his ‘0’ intact by taking Reinier de Ridder’s with a brutal opening round destruction of ‘The Dutch Knight’ on December 2.

Earning the victory made the Russian juggernaut the promotion’s latest two-division world champion, capturing the light heavyweight world title to join his interim heavyweight championship gold.

While Anatoly Malykhin was happy to sit back and enjoy the moment with his wife by his side, fans immediately began to speculate on what would come next.

Many believe a world title unification bout with reigning heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar is a must. Still, even the ONE Championship CEO is questioning whether or not Bhullar will show up for that match after remaining absent from the circle for the better part of two years.

Who would you like to see Anatoly Malykhin face when he returns to the Circle in 2023? Let us know in the comments.

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Anissa Meksen was happy to see Anatoly Malykhin get the win at ONE on Prime Video 5

Aung La N Sang wasn’t the only one that saw Anatoly Malykhin scoring a big win over ‘The Dutch Knight’ earlier this month. Muay Thai standout Anissa Meksen shared her excitement at seeing Malykhin walk away as a two-division titleholder while speaking with ONE Championship:

“Yeah, Anatoly is very strong and smart. He has good punches and the opponent didn't do anything. So a good win for him. I'm happy for him. He’s a good guy.”

Meksen continued, saying:

“[Reinier de Ridder] is good with grappling, but no wrestling. It's difficult for him [de Ridder] to catch him [Malykhin] and put him on the ground. That's why he made something good with his boxing.”

Meksen will return to the circle when ONE Championship resumes business in 2023 with ONE on Prime Video 6. With over 100 career wins to her credit, Meksen will face arguably the toughest test of her career when she meets former ONE kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion, Stamp Fairtex, in a mixed-rules bout.