Heavyweight contender “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane has been gunning for three-weight ONE MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin for some time now, and he’ll finally get to take him on early next month.
The Senegalese powerhouse will challenge Malykhin for the ONE Heavyweight MMA World Title in the main event of ONE 169 on Saturday, 9th November, inside Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Stadium.
The fight will be the biggest of his career, and it’s been years in the making.
Kane entered the world’s largest martial arts organization in 2021 and scored back-to-back knockouts in his first two fights, against Alain Ngalani at ONE: UNBREAKABLE and Patrick Schmid at ONE On TNT I.
That set him up to take on Kirill Grishenko in the Belarusian brawler’s ONE debut at ONE on TNT IV in April 2021. Unfortunately, Grishenko’s prowess proved too much for “Reug Reug” that evening, as he was forced to retire in the second round.
It was a sore spot for Kane. But he wouldn’t linger on the loss long.
He went back to the drawing board to fill the holes in his game and came back a year later at ONE 161 in September 2022 to blitz through Batradz Gazzaev and earn a second-round KO via ruthless ground-and-pound.
From there, the Senegalese slinger’s confidence grew, which was helped further by the unanimous decision win he claimed against Jasur Mirzamukhamedov in his next fight at ONE on Prime Video 5 the following December.
Momentum is a difficult thing to stop when a fighter starts to amass it, and Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida learned that with brutal consequences when he stepped in against Kane at ONE Fight Night 13 in August 2023.
The 14-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu World Champion had amassed a perfect 4-0 slate in his burgeoning MMA career in ONE Championship, with four first-round finishes, and many anticipated he would outdo Kane with his grappling.
But “Reug Reug” had a perfect solution to his Brazilian foe’s game plan. He dragged Almeida into a dogfight across three rounds and used his Senegalese wrestling prowess to counteract anything “Buchecha” through his way. That was enough for the 32-year-old to take the unanimous decision win in the end.
With three wins in a row, Kane firmly established himself as a true threat to Malykhin’s heavyweight throne, so it was no surprise when it was announced that he would get a chance to battle the Russian superstar this November.
“Sladkiy” has been untouchable in his MMA career thus far, which makes the Black Panther Sports/ReugReug MMA standout’s task of beating him at ONE 169 undeniably difficult. But if he can put his stamp on the fight early, their main event battle should be very interesting.
