LOOK: Anatoly Malykhin just a pound shy of making middleweight limit days before ONE 166

Fans worldwide will be treated to an intense night of fights this coming Friday, March 1, as ONE Championship brings its biggest stars out for ONE 166.

While the event is rife with must-watch bangers from top to bottom, the main event will have history-making implications as ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin challenges Reinier de Ridder for the middleweight MMA world title.

Their first meeting showed just how dominant of an athlete ‘Sladkiy’ is as he pushed de Ridder over the limit with his well-polished boxing skills to take his spot atop the light heavyweight MMA division with a highlight reel-worthy first-round knockout.

The Russian star will look to do the same come ONE 166 as their ever-growing rivalry with one another is expected to produce another explosive encounter that might end in another big finish.

However, there has been great concern that Malykhin will be unable to make the middleweight limit of 205 pounds (93 kg) due to him being a lifetime heavyweight fighter.

Malykhin took to his Instagram stories to allay such worries and shared that he currently weighs 93.8kg or 206.79 pounds and is well within reach of the weight limit.

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Anatoly Malykhin believes Reinier de Ridder fears him

With so much bad blood between the two world-class athletes, it is not all that surprising for them to be firing jabs at each other in the lead-up to ONE Championship’s Qatar debut.

Recently, Malykhin pointed out that ‘The Dutch Knight’ might still have some anxiety about facing him again, especially with how their first meeting ended.

It all comes to a head inside the Lusail Sports Arena.

ONE 166 is available live and free on Prime Video in the United States and Canada.