ONE Fight Night 5: Reinier De Ridder and Anatoly Malykhin to lock horns

ONE Championship will kick off the final month of 2022 with ONE Fight Night 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

ONE announced the combustible main event for that evening, and the organization’s very own champ-champ Reinier de Ridder defends his ONE Light Heavyweight World Title against ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion Anatoly Malykhin. 

It’s a battle that’s being billed as one of the biggest fights of the year, with both title holders boasting unblemished records. De Ridder, who currently sits atop both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, holds an unblemished 16-0 slate. 

“The Dutch Knight” recently showcased his prowess against current welterweight king Kiamrian Abbasov, submitting him in the third round. De Ridder then followed suit against Vitaly Bigdash, defeating him with an inverted triangle inside one round. 

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“My next opponent has been granted,” De Ridder said on Instagram. “I am grinding hard to protect what is mine. Nobody takes an inch from me.”

Malykhin, however, will be making a significant drop to light heavyweight to challenge the BJJ and judo black belt for his throne. At 11-0, Malykhin has already impressed ONE fans with three consecutive stoppages wins at heavyweight, one of which included him claiming the ONE Interim Heavyweight World Championship against Kirill Grishenko by knockout. 

Malykhin’s evolution in ONE Championship has seen him mix his freestyle wrestling pedigree with his knockout power. Now he will bid for greatness when he challenges De Ridder at ONE Fight Night 5.

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With a win, the Russian would cement himself in the promotion’s history as a two-division ONE World Champion – something his Dutch adversary has already attained.

In the meantime, catch all the action at ONE Fight Night 4: Abbasov vs. Lee on Saturday, 19 November, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Tickets can be purchased at https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/22_onenovsg.

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