ONE champion Anatoly Malykhin reflects on Reug Reug loss, says Reinier de Ridder proves the UFC overhyped Bo Nickal

Anatoly Malykhin stood on top of the world last March after his big win at ONE 166, having just become the first fighter to win three major belts in mixed martial arts history.

Eight months later, he experienced one of the worst heartbreaks of his life after losing his fourteen-fight undefeated record, finish streak, and ONE heavyweight title to new champ Oumar Kane, better known as ‘Reug Reug’, who utilized his unique Senegalese wrestling base.

Malykhin nonetheless remained his usual jovial self as he and his translator sat down with The Sporting News for an interview to discuss that disappointment, what will come next for him, and the recent success that former foe Reinier de Ridder has found fighting in the West.

“It was the first loss in my career. So I cried for a couple of nights, and then I went back to business,” Malykhin admitted, “You know, for five years, I’ve been training without taking a break. So it was time to reflect and relax a little bit. I’ve been spending time with my family; I try to live like an ordinary person, not like an MMA champion. But I still train in the morning. My son is turning five this year, so I realize that time is flying really fast. So I need to make the most out of it.”

Despite taking time to enjoy life with his family, including a road trip through Thailand, ‘Sladkiy’ is still focused on improving so he can perform better next time out.

His wife, Anita, is his biggest supporter in that regard, and Malykhin plays the role of a dutiful husband, doing whatever she tells him so that he can improve.

“For mental strength and mental recovery, it’s my wife basically who helps me with that. So whatever she tells me to do, like any exercises, reflections, that’s what I do. It was the first loss in my career. And I realized now that I wasn’t 100% ready. Not just physically, but mentally as well. I know exactly what my mistakes were. I’ve worked on them and I’m ready to come back. I feel a bit disappointed, but not because it was the first loss in my career. I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to show a good fight because Mr. Chatri put me in the main event. The promotion put lots of trust and hopes into me and I feel that I’ve shown the dullest fight of my entire career, and it’s been a long and illustrious career. So I have no doubt that I’m strong enough mentally now to come back and show a good fight.”

His confidence and general good-natured attitude is still ever-present; Malykhin laughed during our interview when showing me a photo from the fight of the best punch he landed on Reug Reug, one that snapped the Senegalese wrestler’s head back.

“I didn’t justify my hopes, but I will definitely come back better. I don’t worry because now I have a good photo. The only good thing to come from this is this photo.”

Anatoly pointed out his correct prediction that his foe would just try to clinch with him after feeling the punching power, but Malykhin still took responsibility for letting Reug Reug get away with “hugging for the whole fight.”

“If you remember my prediction…before this fight, I said, ‘What’s going to happen is after my first blow, he’s going to be hugging for the whole fight.’ And that’s exactly what happened. The question I have for myself is why I hugged with him for five rounds. So that’s on me.”

Although Malykhin had never gone the distance in an MMA fight before and felt disappointment in his performance, that once punch and the fact that Reug Reug could not actually take him down gives the Russian confidence as he prepares for the rematch.

“It was the clinch where we were standing locked, and it’s not like he was attacking me,” Malykhin pointed out, “He actually had his back to the cage all the time; I was attacking him.”

“The only thing is I could not take him down. That is my mistake, because normally when I fight at heavyweight I am around 112 kilograms. But because I was jumping between the weight classes at the time, I approached heavyweight at 106 kg. Physically, I just could not take him down. That was my biggest mistake. And I was a little bit lazy, didn’t pump enough iron, didn’t spend enough time bulking up. So I’m not going to make the same mistake.”

Perhaps he got too used to having a size advantage, like he had against Dutch grappling ace Reinier de Ridder, the former ONE MMA double champion at middle and light-heavyweight.

Despite having finished de Ridder twice, Malykhin always had confidence in his former rival to beat three-time NCAA National Champion wrestler Bo Nickal in their recent UFC fight.

“Reinier de Ridder is one of biggest challenges in my life,” Malykhin said of his former foe. “He is very brave, he always goes forward. He has good wrestling. He had big fights, he won two world titles in ONE Championship, one of the best promotions in the world. He fought with the best fighters. Who is Bo Nickal?”

“He’s just a guy hyped up by UFC. He hasn’t had any big tests when it comes to MMA. He just got shown the level of titles in ONE, and he just showed that UFC can create too much hype for its new Golden Boys. After the first round, Nickal was looking for a door. He wanted to get out of the cage and was looking for a way home.”

To round out the interview, Malykhin predicted ‘The Dutch Knight’ will carry his strong momentum into his upcoming bout against former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

“I think the fight will be similar to Khamzat and Whittaker’s. Whittaker is one the most dangerous fighters at the weight, but after Khamzat broke [Rob’s] jaw, I think it’s very difficult to return to the level you were at. Now is a good time for this fight for de Ridder, he most likely will win by submission.”

As for Malykhin himself, the date has not yet been announced for his rematch Oumar Kane, a.k.a. Reug Reug, for the ONE Championship heavyweight mixed martial arts title, but the former triple champion is clearly determined to do better than he did last time.

If Malykhin can return to peak form, he is one of the scariest fighters in the world.

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