Anatoly Malykhin Reigns as Historic Three-Division Champion at ONE 166

Anatoly Malykhin will go down in history as the first three-division titleholder in a major promotion after recording a third-round technical knockout over ONE Championship middleweight boss Reinier de Ridder in the ONE 166 headliner on Friday at Lusail Sports Arena in Lusail, Qatar. It ended 1:16 into Round 3.

Right from the opening bell, Malykhin began pressing his opponent against the fence, unleashing powerful punches against “The Dutch Knight,” who looked to clinch and land knees against his advancing foe. De Ridder eventually managed to momentarily drop his opponent with a punch-low kick combo in response to the Russian’s swift punching attack. However, the combo did not seem to have much of an impact on “Sladiky,” who popped right back to his feet. Towards the end of the first frame, Malykhin got his foe to the ground with a sneaky trip and looked to land some devastating ground-and-pound. While de Ridder managed to find his way back to his feet, the Russian continued pressing forward with punches and finished the round strong.

In the second frame, de Ridder initially found success in the clinch with knees to the body and a snapping push kick. “The Dutch Knight” then proceeded to shoot a single-leg takedown that was swiftly defended by Malykhin, who sprung back to his feet and refused to give de Ridder the chance to compete on the ground. Malykhin got right back to stalking his foe after de Ridder got stood up by the referee. While de Ridder managed to land an elbow soon after, an unfazed Malykhin continued to press forward. Although de Ridder’s constant lateral movement seemed to have worked in his favor in the first frame, the Russian switched from constantly headhunting to landing vicious hooks to the Dutchman’s body, visibly slowing him down as Round 2 came to a close.

The third stanza commenced with Malykhin once again pushing his foe to the fence with an onslaught of punches to the body and head. An exhausted de Ridder shot for a takedown that was easily thwarted by the Russian. Malykhin then proceeded to gain top position and began to rain down heavy ground-and-pound, eventually sneaking in a devastating knee before escaping a submission attempt and getting back to his feet. Exhausted and clearly damaged by the knee to the head, de Ridder was unable to respond to referee Herb Dean’s calls to stand, forcing the official to call a stop to the contest.

The undefeated Malykhin now holds the company’s middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight championships.

Related » ONE 166 Round-by-Round Scoring

In the co-main event, featherweight champion Kai Tang walked away with a third-round technical knockout over and interim titleholder Thanh Le in a rematch for the undisputed belt.

In the opening round, the two competitors came out with a tentative approach that saw both men feeling each other out and making reads. While Tang managed to press his opponent back, neither fighter was able to land anything substantial. The referee eventually issued both competitors yellow cards for inactivity.

The second frame opened with Tang taking the center and eventually landing a solitary left hook. The Chinese national then proceeded to land two thunderous hooks, damaging Le’s nose. Tang seemed to have found his rhythm by regularly landing body shots on the interim champion, who also managed to land a stiff combo to damage Tang’s nose. Regardless, as the round progressed, Tang managed to do more damage while keeping his opponent on the back foot.

Both fighters received a second yellow card barely two minutes into Round 3, once again due to inactivity. As the round progressed, Le managed to take the center of the cage with single strikes, only to be forced back by Tang’s body kicks and punches. Both fighters continued to exchange on their feet and both managed to land effective shots, although Tang seemed to be less fatigued. However, with just 12 seconds remaining in the round, the Chinese national uncorked a vicious right hook on Le against the cage and was quick to jump on his downed adversary with ground-and-pound to secure a finish.

The first title fight of the evening pitted strawweight champion Jarred Brooks against former titleholder Joshua Pacio. It ended with a first-round disqualification loss for Brooks due to an illegal slam. Brooks was able to secure a body lock against Pacio after the former champion landed a thudding leg kick. Soon after, “The Monkey God” slammed Pacio to the ground and began to unload a barrage of punches, only to be stopped by Dean and eventually informed that he was going to be disqualified.

Elsewhere, the only heavyweight clash on the card matched former champion Arjan Singh Bhullar with Amir Aliakbari. It ended with a disqualification win for Aliakbari at 4:13 of Round 3 due to Bhullar’s inactivity throughout the three-round affair. He received two yellow cards and multiple warnings before being issued a red card that signaled his disqualification.

Additionally, Japan’s Keito Yamakita walked away with a quick bulldog choke submission win against ONE veteran Jeremy Miado 4:04 into the first stanza of their strawweight showcase.

In other action, Mehdi Zatout earned a unanimous decision against Zuhayr Al-Qahtani in a 147-pound catchweight boxing contest; Vladimir Kuzmin fought his way to a unanimous decision against Zafer Sayik in a catchweight muay thai clash at 147.75 pounds; Cleber Sousa walked away with a reverse triangle armbar submission against Osamah Almarwai 5:31 into their grappling contest; Ali Saldoev knocked out Zakaria El Jamari 51 seconds into the second round of their 137.75-pound catchweight muay thai tilt; and Shinji Suzuki clinched a unanimous decision over Han Zi Hao in a bantamweight muay thai meeting.