WATCH: De Ridder vs. Malykhin, Bhullar vs. Aliakbari, and other heated faceoffs at ONE 166 press conference

ONE Championship is nearing its first-ever live event in Qatar, with ONE 166 happening inside the Lusail Sports Arena this coming Friday, March 1. The intensity among the headliners was certainly palpable during the pre-event press conference.

Main eventers Reinier de Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin have been at each other's throats since before their first matchup in 2022, with ‘Sladkiy’ looking to take de Ridder’s ONE middleweight MMA world championship this time around.

Despite worries that ‘Sladkiy’ will be unable to reach the middleweight limit of 205 pounds, the ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion recently allayed fears on his most recent Instagram story.

Another rematch is set for the co-main event as reigning champion Tang Kai rematches interim featherweight king Thanh Le for the status of undisputed ONE featherweight MMA world champion. They also had an intense staredown.

Additionally, a revitalized Joshua Pacio is eager to reclaim the ONE strawweight MMA world championship from Jarred Brooks, with the American raring to prove his dominance over ‘The Passion’.

Heavyweight stars Amir Aliakbari and Arjan Bhullar also had their own staredown, which saw the former get under the skin of the ex-heavyweight MMA world champion by rubbing his head during the faceoffs.

Relive the heated moments from their respective faceoffs below:

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What other fights are set for ONE 166?

Set to round out the big event are the following fights:

• Zuhayr Al-Qahtani vs. Mehdi Zatout (catchweight 147lbs boxing)
• Osamah Almarwai vs. Clever Sousa (flyweight submission grappling)
• Zafer Sayik vs. Vladimir Kuzmin (catchweight 147.75lbs Muay Thai)
• Zakaria El Jamari vs. Ali Saldoev (flyweight Muay Thai)
• Shinji Suzuki vs. Han Zi Hao (bantamweight Muay Thai)
• Keito Yamakita vs. Jeremy Miado (strawweight MMA)

ONE 166 is available live and free on Prime Video in the United States and Canada.