“It's going to be a different fight” – Jarred Brooks gives his prediction on the Anatoly Malykhin-Reinier de Ridder high-stakes rematch

Jarred Brooks believes the sequel between Anatoly Malykhin and Reinier de Ridder will play out differently, except for the outcome.

Anatoly Malykhin, who holds the ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world titles, will challenge Reinier de Ridder for the ONE middleweight MMA world championship in the main event of ONE 166.

The titanic matchup is the second time Malykhin challenges de Ridder for a belt, and it goes down this Friday at Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Jarred Brooks said de Ridder would put up a better outing than his one against Malykhin at ONE on Prime Video 5.

The ONE strawweight MMA world champion, however, believes that the result would still go Malykhin’s way.

“Both are great. I think RDR is a better submission grappler while Anatoly is a Hulk smash [kind of fighter], so it’s two different [fightres]. It's going to be a different fight for sure. I think that Anatoly is way faster and way more powerful with his fists, while RDR, could hit a kick and go for a submission. But I would have to go Anatoly. Sorry, RDR. But you know, I would love to see RDR get it back though.”

Malykhin, then the ONE interim heavyweight MMA world champion, first fought de Ridder for the ONE light heavyweight MMA world title in December 2022.

Despite going down a weight class, ‘Sladkiy’ showed why he’s the most terrifying fighter in ONE Championship when he bludgeoned de Ridder for the first-round knockout.

Malykhin ultimately became an undisputed two-division world champion when he knocked out Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22 to unify the heavyweight MMA straps.

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Jarred Brooks loving the villain role ahead of ONE 166 matchup against Joshua Pacio

While he has his eyes on the huge rematch between Malykhin and de Ridder, Jarred Brooks also has enough on his plate at ONE Championship’s on-site debut in Qatar.

‘The Monkey God’ will put his ONE strawweight MMA world title on the line against former holder Joshua Pacio in one of the card’s co-main events.

As expected, the American star was at his heelish best during the card’s press conference.

From throwing bananas to the crowd to being just an overall menace on the mic, Jarred Brooks took all the hate from the surprisingly predominant Filipino crowd in attendance.

“People can boo me all they want, but have I ever been wrong? Nope. It’s fine, I love the hate and I love the love. It doesn’t matter. There’s a thin line between love and hate and I’m all about it.”

ONE 166 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.