Watch: Anatoly Malykhin sends Reinier de Ridder into the shadow realm with monster KO

If you haven’t been privy to Anatoly Malykhin and Reinier de Ridder's epic showdown at ONE on Prime Video 5, then do check out the rest of this article.

Former two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder was pitted against heavyweight star Anatoly Malyhin for his first light heavyweight world title defense. Four months prior to the match, the Dutchman had successfully defended his middleweight crown by suffocating Vitaly Bigdash with a jarring inverted triangle choke. Seemingly unbeatable, de Ridder has garnered a reputation for being one of the greatest grapplers in MMA today.

‘Sladkiy,’ on the other hand, was on the sidelines for most of the year. After capturing the ONE interim heavyweight world title back in February, he waited six months before Arjan Bhullar, the current ONE heavyweight titleholder, agreed to fight him at ONE 161 on September 29. Malykhin and Bhullar were scheduled to headline the main event, but the unification bout was ultimately scrapped after Bhullar underwent surgery.

Another window of opportunity, however, opened up for Malykhin as Reinier de Ridder’s scheduled middleweight war against ONE newcomer Shamil Abdulaev fell through at the last minute. With both fighters boasting undefeated MMA records, their future clash was fast-tracked to December 2 at ONE on Prime Video 5.

Watch Anatoly Malykhin send Reinier de Ridder into the shadow realm with a monster KO below:

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Amir Aliakbari wants Arjan Bhullar next before Anatoly Malykhin

Amir Aliakbari doesn’t mind fighting Anatoly Malykhin next. However, he confessed that he’d like a rubber match with Arjan Bhullar before that.

Like his heavyweight counterpart, the Iranian brash-talker scored big at ONE 164: Pacio vs. Brooks on December 3. Following a war of words with former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera, Aliakbari delivered on his promise to retire the American-Filipino icon by way of TKO in the first round.

Retrieving his second consecutive victory after a two-fight skid, Amir Aliakbari can’t wait to touch gloves with Arjan Bhullar for the ONE heavyweight world title. Despite Anatoly Malykhin being next in line to the throne, Aliakbari expressed a desire to teach Bhullar a lesson.

Through a translator, he told SCMP MMA:

“I’m on a redemption road right now, if I’m not going to fight Arjan Bhullar, no problem, I’ll take him [Malykhin], but I’d like to take my first loss back and then Malykhin can catch it next.”