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At ONE 166: Qatar last weekend, Russian KO artist Anatoly Malykhin etched himself in the sport's history by becoming the first man to hold major MMA world titles in three different weight classes.
To explain how monumental this achievement is, we can compare it to boxing's only octuple world champion, Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino held world titles between 112 and 154 pounds, totaling 42 pounds in between.
Malykhin holds belts across from 205, 225, and 265-pound weight classes - 60 pounds across. On top of this, 'Sladkiy' managed to hold all three belts simultaneously.
The heavy-handed Malykhin violently dispatched former two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder, the man he already KO'd for the light-heavyweight throne, to win the ONE middleweight MMA world title.
Although de Ridder managed to be more competitive than all of Malykhin's previous opponents in ONE (even knocking down the Russian at one point), he ultimately succumbed to the accumulation of punishment Anatoly Malykhin put on him across three rounds.
Malykhin commended his rival in his post-event media scrum:
“De Ridder gained my respect tonight because he applied more aspects of different martial arts, not only jiu-jitsu. He impressed me with his resilience and his strength. I wish him nothing but the best in life and his upcoming fights.”
Watch the full media scrum here:
Anatoly Malykhin vs. Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166 play-by-play
Malykhin came out like a bull in a China shop, looking to destroy de Ridder with anything he threw. 'The Dutch Knight,' already familiar with Malykhin's knack for wanting to end fights early, devised a plan to kill his momentum. He clinched up and used his stepping knee strikes for much of the first round.
De Ridder's strategy marginally worked into the second round, as he was able to avoid much of Malykhin's crushing head punches and even connect with his own. He was even able to score a flash knockdown courtesy of a left cross.
Despite this success, however, Malykhin showed his championship wits by switching his strikes from the head to the body. This greatly sapped de Ridder's energy and made him more desperate.
De Ridder started the third round with a desperate takedown attempt, but Anatoly Malykhin easily sprawled and stayed on top, clubbing 'The Dutch Knight' with massive punches, elbows, and knees to the head.
'Sladkiy' elected to stand up and signaled for de Ridder to follow him, but the Dutch grappler looked spent and took a long while to get to his knees. This prompted referee Herd Dean to assess that de Ridder was no longer capable of intelligently defending himself and declared Anatoly Malykhin the winner via TKO.
The replay of ONE 166 is available free for Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
