Reinier de Ridder says Anatoly Malykhin fight is happening because Arjan Bhullar is out of the picture

A battle between two unbeaten fighters in 'The Dutch Knight' Reinier de Ridder and 'Sladkiy' Anatoly Malykhin will go down at ONE on Prime Video 5. According to one competitor, the battle for the light heavyweight crown got booked because ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar is not active.

'Singh' Arjan Bhullar won the illustrious ONE heavyweight world title in 2021 when he earned a TKO victory over Brandon Vera. Since then, due to contract negotiations and injuries, Bhullar has not fought.

ONE Championship later crowned an ONE interim heavyweight world champion in Anatoly Malykhin. The interim heavyweight king will now be challenging for the ONE light heavyweight world championship instead of the heavyweight throne due to the absence of 'Singh'.

While speaking with SCMP MMA, undefeated light heavyweight king de Ridder said:

"This only happened sometime last week. It took a little while to put this together. I think they were aiming at making Malykhin versus Bhullar first. I’m not sure what the situation is there. Bhullar has been out for how long now? Like one-and-a-half years. I’m not sure what they’re up to there.”

It will be a war between two undefeated fighters when Reinier de Ridder looks to defend his throne against the ONE interim heavyweight world champion, Russian knockout machine Anatoly Malykhin.

See the full interview below:

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Reinier de Ridder confident against Anatoly Malykhin

Dutch-born athlete Reinier de Ridder is currently a two-division titleholder in ONE Championship. He recently defeated the ONE middleweight world champion via submission, earning a win against former world champion Vitaly Bigdash.

'The Dutch Knight' has experience against world champions, which gives him confidence as he faces ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin.

On Instagram, the double world champion showed his confidence, writing:

“I run through champions. Watch me close out the year big! 👑”

While discussing the upcoming match, Malykhin noted the danger that Reinier de Ridder poses. However, he thinks that his power will prevail.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the Russian said:

“If I hit him the way he hit Vitaly, he’s unlikely to remember anything about his jiu-jitsu skills. Maybe later after the knockout when his team tries to bring him back to life, he might remember that he is a black belt in jiu-jitsu. But overall, he is not a bad fighter. He has a record of 16-0, which is impressive. He is a jiu-jitsu fighter, but this is MMA – let’s see how he adjusts.”