Director Anatoly Malykhina Alexander Skaredin, in a conversation with , said that the team had no doubts that the Russian fighter would reach the ONE League middleweight limit for the fight with Rainier De Ridder from the Netherlands.
On Friday in Qatar, Malykhin will fight with De Ridder for the ONE middleweight belt, which belongs to the Dutchman. These fighters met in December 2022, when Malykhin won by first-round knockout and captured the league’s light heavyweight belt. The Russian also currently holds the heavyweight title.
The official weigh-in took place on Thursday. The Russian’s weight was 92.75 kg, de Ridder indicated 92.53 kg on the scales. Both fighters also passed the hydration test.
“We had no fear that Tolya would not meet the weight limit. The whole question is to what extent he will maintain his condition in such bodily modification. So this is the main plot of this fight. But we think everything will be fine. We believe that on Friday night Tolya will become the third weight champion and go down in MMA history. Each fight must be considered separately. In other words, you don’t need to watch their first confrontation. If it was easy in the first fight, this does not mean that in the second fight with the same opponent it will happen exactly the same way. In no case should you relax. And Tolya has no understatements, he approaches his preparation quite scrupulously and responsibly. For comparison, let’s remember Petr Yan’s first and second fights with Aljamain Sterling. They were diametrically opposed,” Skaradin told .
During his career, the Russian won 13 early victories and suffered no defeats. De Ridder has 16 victories and the only defeat against Malykhin
Watch the live broadcast of the ONE 166 tournament on Friday from 3:30 p.m. (Moscow time) on the channel, matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
