Anatoly Malykhin became the first athlete to hold belts in three divisions simultaneously in a major MMA organization after forcing Reinier de Ridder to quit in the third round at Friday’s ONE Championship 166 in Qatar.
Malykhin now holds the belts in ONE`s middleweight (205 pounds), light heavyweight (225 pounds) and heavyweight (265 pounds) divisions.
The Russian knockout artist imposed his will over de Ridder from the start, avoiding takedowns attempts and throwing his powerful right hand at will. De Ridder used push kicks to keep Malykhin away from him as much as he could, and even dropped the challenger with a right hand early on, but it was Malykhin who connected with the better strikes.
De Ridder went for a takedown in round three but the Russian talent easily stopped it, landing a heavy knee to the head of the champion, which is legal under ONE rules, before getting back to his feet. De Ridder could not get back up despite referee Herb Dean pausing the action for him to stand up, awarding Malykhin the victory by technical knockout.
Anatoly Malykhin gets the finish in round two and makes it #threebelttime #ONE166 pic.twitter.com/9RLgyIdJA6
— ONE Championship on SCMP (@scmpmartialarts) March 1, 2024
Malykhin now holds a 14-0 record with 14 finishes to his credit, including a pair of knockouts over de Ridder. The 36-year-old Russian won six since joining ONE Championship in 2021, half of those in under five minutes.
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