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At ONE 166: Qatar, two-division MMA king Anatoly Malykhin looked to extend his undefeated winning streak and make history in the process.
The Russian had already been able to conquer two different weight classes at both heavyweight and light heavyweight.
Having stopped Reinier de Ridder in the opening round the first time that they met, he was confident of doing the same again in their rematch inside the Lusail Sports Arena.
In order to challenge 'The Dutch Knight' for his other world championship after beating him for the light heavyweight belt, Malykhin moved down to middleweight where he was still just as dominant as before.
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De Ridder was able to make the fight more competitive the second time around but without being able to take the Russian down, he was forced to stand and strike with him.
He showed clear developments in this area but it was only a matter of time before his opponent hit him with one two many strikes, as seen in the highlights below:
Fans react to Anatoly Malykhin and his dominant win at ONE 166
Unsurprisingly, the fans were in awe of what they had just seen as Anatoly Malykhin became MMA's first three-division world champion.
They gave their reactions to the fight and the highlights via the comments underneath ONE Championship's Instagram post.
Several of the posts reference where Malykhin was able to win this fight against a more stubborn de Ridder.
His ability to maintain a constant pace and pressure was key to breaking his opponent down but so was an adaptation in his striking.
De Ridder fought with a much higher and well protected guard the second time around so Malykhin started to target the body which is what won him the fight.
Check out the reactions below:
"He tore him up"
"Those body shots man"
"Yes big ups Malykhin"
"This is an eternal beating. Here is the character and the will to win and Renier was more."
Anatoly Malykhin is now set to return, moving up all the way back to heavyweight, where he will defend his crown against Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane in the main event of ONE 169 on November 8 inside the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
