“That sound was dirty” - Fans mortified by Anatoly Malykhin’s deadly sequence that ended Reinier de Ridder

In December 2022, Anatoly Malykhin captured his second world title in ONE Championship after beating former two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5 inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

Prior to moving down in weight class, Malykhin previously beat Kirill Grishenko in February 2022 for the ONE interim heavyweight MMA world title at ONE: Bad Blood. The Russian juggernaut opted to fight for another golden belt instead of, at that time, waiting for his unification bout with Arjan Bhullar.

This decision by ‘Sladkiy’ bore fruit as he destroyed ‘The Dutch Knight’ in just one round to become the undisputed ONE light heavyweight world champion. ONE Championship looked back at his outstanding performance by reposting the clip of the finish on their official Instagram account.

On November 6, 2023, the promotion published the video with the caption:

"Crowning moment 👑 What’s next for two-division champ Anatoly Malykhin? @anmalykhin"

In the video, Malykhin’s punch was clearly heard as he landed a right hand straight to the face of de Ridder, and it was the beginning of the end for the the Dutch superstar as he received more lethal punches on the ground and was officially sent to the shadow realms.

Because of his incredible power, the Tiger Muay Thai-affiliated athlete left fans in awe. Various Instagram users commended Malykhin for the highlight-reel finish, as users @dd_digitalartworks, @rolling_rad, @rayfidel, @sr.krzwz, @intangible4mation, @sh_m1roslav, and @lethallimbsacademy commented:

“That sound was dirrrrrty”

“Apparently everyone wants Aliakbhari which I’m ok with because I love seeing @anmalykhin knock people out 👊🏻👊🏻💪🏻💪🏻“

“one of my favorite fights 🔥🔥🔥”

“Built different”

“Jeeeeeez”

“That sound 😮‍💨”

“Ooofff cracked that orbital”

Screenshot of fans' comments about Anatoly Malykhin

There are no exact details of Malykhin’s return to action, but a potential name in the heavyweight MMA world title picture is Amir Aliakbari, whom he previously defeated in their first meeting in September 2021 at ONE: Revolution, where he finished him in the opening round via knockout.

Since losing to the reigning ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion, the 35-year-old Iranian has strung up three consecutive wins against Mauro Cerilli, Brandon Vera, and Dustin Joynson to possibly earn a rematch with Malykhin and have the golden opportunity to strike gold.