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Light heavyweight king De Ridder to defend gold against Malykhin at ONE Fight Night 5
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De Ridder Malykhin
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wo-division ONE World Champion Reinier de Ridder has never been afraid to ask for what he wants, and lately that has been both titleholders in the promotion’s heavyweight division.
The Dutch superstar will partly get what he wants on Dec. 3 when he takes on ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Fight Night 5.
De Ridder has made his intentions to move up to heavyweight clear over the last few months, and he has called out both Malykhin and ONE Heavyweight World Champion Arjan Bhullar on numerous occasions.
But the unbeaten Dutchman will have to wait for his crack at an unprecedented third World Title, as his outting with Malykhin will see him defending his light heavyweight crown instead inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
“The Dutch Knight” is arguably one of ONE’s biggest stars, with a stellar MMA record of 16-0 and finishing rate of nearly 72 percent. He has had quite a productive year so far in 2022, with this matchup against Malykhin set to be his fourth appearance in the Circle this year alone.
That stint has seen the 32-year-old defend the ONE Middleweight World Title twice against welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov and former middleweight titleholder Vitaly Bigdash, and now it’s time for him to cement his dominance over the light heavyweight division.
Read also: ONE Fight Night 4 to feature two world title battles, a plethora of martial arts actionThat task will likely prove difficult for De Ridder, however, as Malykhin has all the tools necessary to cause him serious problems. The Russian star is undefeated in his MMA career, and his 11-0 record boasts a jaw-dropping 100 percent finishing rate. His latest appearance saw him overcoming Belarusian powerhouse Kirill Grishenko to earn the interim heavyweight crown, and he has been waiting patiently to unify the divisional belts against Bhullar ever since.
De Ridder and Malykhin both have heavyweight dreams going into this bout, so fans can expect them to throw everything at each other when they square off. And with light heavyweight gold on the line, this main event melee should be fireworks.
In the meantime, don’t miss ONE Fight Night 4: Abbasov vs. Lee on Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets can be purchased at https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/22_onenovsg.
This article was published in collaboration with ONE Championship.
