ONE Championship: ‘I’m the man in de Ridder’s nightmares’, says Malykhin, ahead of Qatar title fight
- Anatoly Malykhin and Reinier de Ridder will clash at ONE 166 for middleweight belt
- Russian has already beaten his Dutch rival once, stopping him in light heavyweight bout
Anatoly Malykhin thinks opponent Reinier de Ridder is having sleepless nights ahead of their ONE Championship middleweight title clash in Qatar.
The Russian fighter already holds the belts at heavyweight and light heavyweight, and will be chasing a historic third crown at ONE 166 on March 1.
And having already comprehensively stopped the previously undefeated Dutchman in their light heavyweight title fight at ONE Fight Night 5 last year, Malykhin jokingly told the Post in an exclusive interview he holds a psychological advantage over de Ridder.
“I wish him a really good sleep at night because I am pretty sure he has nightmares about me every day,” Malykhin said. “I am pretty sure he sees me knocking him every day over and over again. I wish him a good rest, I wish he could sleep better.”
The 36-year-old isn’t even concerned about dropping down two divisions, and said he had already started shedding the pounds, mostly by eating less chocolate and training harder.
“I’m feeling good, I’ve lost 15 kgs already, I’m just eating less and training more,” he said. “I’m gonna’ be in my best shape and I will give you guys a great show.
“The secret is chocolate, I eat less chocolate. When I was heavyweight I was eating two chocolate bars every day, now I’m only eating one.”
Based in Phuket and used to fighting in Bangkok, Malykhin will be fighting in Qatar for the first time, and he said he was excited about the prospect of stepping into the ring at Lusail Sports Arena.
“I heard so many good thing about the people about the county and I want to give them the best performance,” he said.
