“It's a really important goal” – Anatoly Malykhin wants to honor family by winning three world titles

Anatoly ‘Sladkiy’ Malykhin wants to honor his family by taking home his third world title at ONE: Qatar.

The two-division world champion is set to rematch ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier ‘The Dutch Knight’ de Ridder on Friday, March 1, with the sole purpose of becoming ONE’s first-ever three-division world champion.

Reinforcing his goals this week with the South China Morning Post, Malykhin revealed the motivating drive behind his dream.

“It's a really important goal for me because three belts, it means the first belt should be on the belly of my wife, the second belt should be on the belly of my mother, and the third belt should be on the belly of my grandmother.”

Before Anatoly Malykhin became a household name in ONE, former double-world champion Reinier de Ridder was the king in town. He simultaneously held both the middleweight and light heavyweight belts after defeating Myanmar’s former double-world champion, Aung La N Sang, in back-to-back fashion.

Heading into his world title defense against Malykhin, everyone thought it was going to be an easy night for ‘The Dutch Knight.’ But that all changed when at ONE on Prime Video 5, Malykhin knocked out the Dutchman unconscious in the first round of their ONE light heavyweight world title bout.

Since their first match, de Ridder hasn’t put much thought into a rematch until now. Malykhin will not rest until he captures the only belt de Ridder has left.

ONE 166: Qatar will air live on March 1 free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

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Reinier de Ridder blames a poor fight camp as the reason he lost to Anatoly Malykhin

Reinier de Ridder made the mistake of believing he was invincible when met Anatoly Malykhin a year and a half ago.

The previously undefeated grappler had once owned an unbeaten record of 16-0, thanks to his grappling pedigree in the stacked middleweight MMA division. However, he completely missed the mark against Malykhin, who shockingly proved to be the better fighter that night.

De Ridder previously told ONE:

“In the preparation for the fight and maybe even the fights before, I kind of lost track of what makes me great. I got away from putting in the time as much, developing every little small area of my game.”

This time around, the 33-year-old says he won’t hold anything back. Expect to see an improved version of Reinier de Ridder on March 1 at ONE: Qatar.