ONE Middleweight MMA World Champion Reinier de Ridder and two-weight titleholder Anatoly Malykhin have been tipped to rematch for over a year, and the sequel to their December 2022 showdown is now just over a week away.
De Ridder puts his ONE Middleweight MMA World Title on the line against Malykhin when the pair lock horns in the main event of ONE 166: Qatar on Friday, 1st March, at the Lusail Sports Arena.
Each man has ascended to great heights in ONE Championship, and they have both held the rare title of two-division king in the promotion. Their journeys have seen them topple a laundry list of notable combatants, which makes their second meeting all the more significant.
When “The Dutch Knight” arrived in ONE Championship in 2019, he wasted no time asserting himself with his versatile ground game and dominant punching power.
His formidable prowess couldn’t be overcoe, though adversaries tried very best. After a year of untouchable dominance and having added three wins to his perfect professional slate, De Ridder emerged as the rightful challenger for then-two-weight titleholder Aung La N Sang.
The pair met in middleweight action at ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX in October 2020. Aung La had seen many things in his legendary career up to that point, but he had no answer for “The Dutch Knight’s” skill set. He succumbed to a rear-naked choke in the first round, which handed De Ridder the World Title – and there was more to come from there. 
They met again six months later at ONE on TNT 4. This time, the Dutchman was coming for “The Burmese Python’s” light heavyweight crown. Aung La looked to have learned a lot from their first battle, which led to a thrilling showing in Singapore. But the surging star of De Ridder couldn’t be stopped, and he ultimately won by unanimous decision to become a two-division ONE World Champion.
The Combat Brothers standout continued to make short work of his opponents from there. But all the while, Malykhin was making waves in the heavyweight MMA ranks. And it wouldn’t be long before they would find themselves in each other’s scopes.
“Sladkiy” debuted in 2021 and quickly became the frontrunner to challenge Arjan Bhullar’s reign atop the weight bracket with back-to-back finishes in his first two fights.
With the World Champion out of commission, the Russian instead contested the interim crown with Kirill Grishenko in February 2022 and won it with yet another knockout.
Unfortunately, Bhullar still wasn’t ready to put his belt on the line, so Malykhin went looking for action in the hopes of staying as active as possible. What he found was a clash for De Ridder’s ONE Light Heavyweight MMA World Title at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December 2022.
Many fans predicted an absolute barnburner, given both men were undefeated. But what emerged was a one-sided display of dominance from “Sladkiy.” He pressured De Ridder from the opening bell and unloaded strike after strike until the Dutchman was laid out unconscious on the mat.
He claimed the light heavyweight crown with the shocking win and would go on to unify the ONE Heavyweight MMA World Title against Bhullar the following June to become an undisputed two-sport king.
Meanwhile, De Ridder was left to lick his wounds. His undefeated record had been smashed in dramatic fashion, and he was forced to go back to the drawing board.
Now, with their second meeting looming, the stakes couldn’t be higher for both men.
De Ridder has been in Malykhin’s shoes before, having claimed each of his ONE World Titles from Aung La N Sang. He’ll be looking to flip the script and turn the tide on the Russian in order to hold on to his remaining belt and show the world his foe is breakable.
For Malykhin – history beckons. If he can do what De Ridder did to Aung La, he’ll become ONE Championship’s first three-division World Champion. And with that, his legacy in the world’s largest martial arts organization will be all but guaranteed.
