“He doesn’t surprise me with anything” - Anatoly Malykhin is unimpressed with Reinier de Ridder’s skillset

ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin recently claimed he’s unimpressed with Reinier de Ridder’s overall skillset.

The feud between Malykhin and De Ridder has been heating up since ‘The Dutch Knight’ scored a submission finish over the Russian’s Tiger Muay Thai teammate, Vitaly Bigdash, last July.

Amused by the prospect of meeting ‘The Dutch Knight’ in a contest for the interim world title, Malykhin is convinced De Ridder has nothing left in his skillset that could surprise him.

He told ONE Championship:

“There has never been any disrespect from me when it comes to De Ridder, but he doesn’t surprise me with anything. I know his strengths – endurance and a strong ground game, but he just doesn’t understand my level of fighting, and that’s his weak point. He thinks he can take me down, but he won’t succeed.”

Despite not being the biggest heavyweight, Anatoly Malykhin’s quick reaction time, athleticism, and knockout power make him one of the most dangerous fighters on the roster.

Not to mention, being a decorated freestyle wrestling world champion himself, the Russian juggernaut may be comfortable enough to challenge ‘The Dutch Knight’ on the ground if that is De Ridder’s sole game plan.

With Malykhin winning his last three fights in KO fashion, it will be interesting to see how Reinier de Ridder approaches this fight compared to previous world title bouts.

Watch Malykhin's ONE debut performance below:

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Anatoly Malykhin fought injured when he beat Kirill Grishenko for interim gold

Not many MMA fans know that Anatoly Malykhin fought injured in his last fight against Kirill Grishenko at ONE: Bad Blood last February. How he managed to beat the Belarusian standout with a thunderous second-round knockout is beyond all reasoning.

Keeping news of the injury to himself until after the bout had ended, Malykhin told ONE Championship in the post-fight interview:

“I didn’t want to tell this but during the preview, I had my leg injury and it affected me in the first round when I was doing the wrestling. But then in the second round, I felt my boxing wasn’t that efficient anymore because of my injury but then --I’m the best man, I’m a dangerous guy.”

Grishenko was 5-0 when he met Malykhin in the circle. He stuck to his game plan and evaded his opponent’s power shots to great effect until Malykhin scored the takedown in the first round.

By the second round, a big left hand forced Grishenko to move to his left, creating an opening for Anatoly Malykhin’s powerful right hook which sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.