Relive Anatoly Malykhin’s destruction of Reinier de Ridder to reach champ-champ status

ONE light-heavyweight and interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin is on the cusp of immortality as he faces reigning ONE heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar in a unification bout at ONE Friday Fights 22.

On June 23, inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand, 'Sladkiy' will look to unify the ONE heavyweight belts to become the promotion's undisputed heavyweight king. The bout with Bhullar has been booked, canceled, and rescheduled a couple of times in the past. With the dotted line finally signed, a line on the sand has been drawn as the two behemoths will finally settle the score.

Ahead of Anatoly Malykhin's upcoming world title unification bout, ONE Championship posted a video his last bout inside the circle. It was a single-round decimation of previously undefeated Reinier de Ridder in December last year at ONE on Prime Video 5.

Malykhin utterly dismantled the former ONE double-champion to capture the ONE light-heavyweight world title.

Here's the video of the fight:

"Before interim heavyweight titleholder Anatoly Malykhin collides with reigning divisional king Arjan Bhullar in a ONE Heavyweight World Title unification bout on June 23, relive his ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship-winning knockout of former two-division king Reinier de Ridder in 2022!"

Malykhin used his significant wrestling background to wrestle reverse, negating every takedown attempt by De Ridder. The Russian KO artist rattled 'The Dutch Knight' the instant he touched him with his lunchboxes for fists.

After hurting De Ridder with a right punch to the temple early, 'Sladkiy' proceeded to patiently and methodically stalk his prey. From that point forward, the Dutch grappling expert was in pure survival mode. Anatoly Malykhin then found his killshot at 4:35 mark of the first round.

The massive punch sent 'The Dutch Knight' crashing down like a ton of bricks and Malykhin further exclamated the finish with hammer fists on the ground. It was perhaps the most brutal dismantling of an undefeated fighter we've ever seen.

Look to see the Russian double-champion attempt a similar outcome once he locks horns with Bhullar on June 23. ONE Friday Fights 22 is available live and for free on ONE Championship’s digital platforms as well as on its official broadcast partners.