For Anatoly Malykhin, this Friday presents an opportunity to avenge his only career defeat to date. The reigning ONE light heavyweight and middleweight champion chases a third title when he takes on heavyweight champion Oumar “Reug Reug” Kane as part of The Inner Circle and ONE Friday Fights 154.
The event takes place from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand and will be the featured bout for The Inner Circle portion of the card that you can watch live on Live.ONEFC.com.
Back in November 2024, Malykhin suffered his first and only defeat to date, as Kane claimed the heavyweight belt with a split decision.
ONE fighter looking to take back heavyweight title
“I didn’t finish him in the first fight, but I will finish him in this one,” Malykhin said. “The biggest lesson (I learned)? Don’t leave it to the judges. Finish the fight.”
The 38-year-old Russian won multiple golds competing in freestyle wrestling before embarking on his incredible mixed martial arts run. He won the light heavyweight title in 2022 with a knockout of former UFC champion Reinier de Ridder and unified the heavyweight titles a year later with a third round finish of Arjan Bhullar.
In 2024, he again stopped de Ridder, this time earning the middleweight championship in the process and improving to 14-0. He won the interim heavyweight belt in his second appearance with ONE when he stopped Kirill Grishenko.
“You can’t ignore my knockout power,” Malykhin said. “I’ve finished all my opponents, and he’s next. If he says he ‘ate my left hook’ and didn’t feel it, there’s a photo that says otherwise. His lips were flying about 20 centimeters away from his face. That’s the reality.”
Anatoly Malyhkin owns two decisive wins over former UFC champion
Malykhin is the first three-division champion in MMA history, the first to hold three titles at the same time and the fifth double champion in ONE. He has finished all six of his fights for the promotion.
“I’m prepared to knock him out,” he said. “That’s always my goal. The fans know it. That’s why they come to watch my fights. In this fight, I’ll stay calm, stay sharp and look for the finish.
“And I’ll get it in the first round like always.”
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