ONE 166 in Qatar this March has its main event set, with a rematch that will see Reinier de Ridder look to defend his middleweight crown — while Anatoly Malykhin becomes the latest fighter looking to achieve triple crown status in MMA.
ONE Championship officials announced the booking in a press release distributed on Thursday.
de Ridder (16-1) suffered the only loss to date of his professional mixed martial arts career in his initial meeting with Malykhin. That fight saw the Dutch star knocked out inside of a round, losing his light heavyweight title in the process.
Prior to that, de Ridder had piled up victories over the likes of Fan Rong, Aung La N Sang, and former champ Vitaly Bigdash.
After securing light heavyweight gold against Reinier de Ridder, Anatoly Malykhin (13-0) went on to dethrone Arjhan Bhullar to capture ONE Championship’s heavyweight crown earlier this year. In 13 fights, the 35-year old Russian has 13 finishes, and holds a win over Iranian standout Amir Aliakbari along with his victories against Bhullar and de Ridder.
The double-champ looks to follow in the footsteps of Salahdine Parnasse (KSW) and Patricio Pitbull (Bellator) in seeking a third title. To date, the feat has yet to be successfully pulled off in a major MMA promotion.
ONE 166 takes place at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar on Friday, March 1, 2024. In addition to the main event of Anatoly Malykhin vs. Reinier de Ridder II, a strawweight title fight also features, as Jarred Brooks faces Joshua Pacio in another rematch.
