ONE Championship News: Anatoly Malykhin Crowned First-Ever Triple-Champ at ONE 166
Anatoly Malykhin made history by becoming a three-division champion when he headlined ONE Championship 166 opposite Reinier de Ridder.
“Spartak” first clashed with de Ridder in 2022 and stopped the Dutchman with strikes late in the opening round. After besting Arjan Bhullar last year to claim a second belt, Malykhin was booked for a rematch with de Ridder at ONE Championship 166 to try and achieve triple-champ status.
“The Dutch Knight” had more success in Qatar than in their first meeting, but ultimately the 33-year-old was forced to quit in the third round after absorbing some considerable punishment.
The victory crowned Malykhin as ONE Championship’s middleweight king to go along with his light heavyweight and heavyweight titles, and impressively the Russian has also handed de Ridder the only two losses of his MMA career.
ONE Championship 166 featured two other title fight rematches immediately before the main event. The co-main event saw Kai Tang stop Thanh Le after he previously took the American’s 155 lb. belt via unanimous decision, and a 125 lbs. title bout between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio ended after less than a minute when Brooks was disqualified for an illegal slam.
It will be interesting to see what’s next for Malykhin now that he holds belts in three ONE Championship weight classes, and perhaps Amir Aliakbari could be in line for a heavyweight rematch with “Spartak” after he also bested Arjan Bhullar in Qatar.
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