ONE Championship: de Ridder and Malykhin rematch to headline promotion’s ONE 166 show in Qatar
- Reinier de Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin will battle it out for middleweight MMA title at Lusail Sports Arena
- Russian Malykhin will be looking to make history in becoming a world champion across three different divisions
Reinier de Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin will resume their battle in the ring in Qatar next year, when they fight it out for the ONE middleweight MMA world title at ONE 166.
For de Ridder (16-1) the main event on a stacked card represents a chance to avenge the only defeat of his career, when Malykhin (13-0) took his light heavyweight last year at ONE Fight Night 5 in Manila.
His Russian opponent, meanwhile, who is also the heavyweight world champion, will be looking to become a title holder across three divisions when the pair clash at Lusail Sports Arena on Friday, March 1.
Before suffering his first defeat, de Ridder had rattled off seven straight wins in ONE, including five via finish, to become a two-division world champion in his own right, and the submission specialist certainly has a score to settle.
The headline bout is just of several mouth-watering matches set up for Qatar, with ONE’s reigning strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks putting his title on the line against Joshua Pacio.
Also on the card is a clash of heavyweight MMA contenders, as Iranian juggernaut Amir Aliakbari takes on former ONE heavyweight MMA world champion Arjan Bhullar of India.
Plus, former ONE Flyweight Submission Grappling World Title challengers will collide, as Yemeni-Saudi BJJ black belt Osamah Almarwai takes on former IBJJF World Champion Cleber Sousa of Brazil.
As a part of grass-roots efforts to develop martial arts talent in the region, ONE will also host a Road to ONE submission grappling tournament during fight week.