“I already feel like the three-division world champion” - Anatoly Malykhin vows to take Reinier de Ridder’s remaining gold

Two-division world champion Anatoly Malykhin is already making up space to house a third world title to his collection.

Malykhin, the ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world champion, practically declared he'd walk out of ONE 166: Qatar the new ONE middleweight MMA world champion.

‘Sladkiy’ could make history in his next fight when he challenges bitter rival Reinier de Ridder for the ONE middleweight MMA world title in the card’s main event on March 1.

In an interview with ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson, Malykhin vowed to leave Lusail Sports Arena with another piece of hardware and take everything de Ridder worked for all his life.

Malykhin said during his impromptu interview at ONE Fight Night 19:

“I already feel like the three-division world champion. I am very happy, I am very motivated. I am super ready for this fight, and I’m going to knock him out in the first round.”

Malykhin was the ONE interim heavyweight MMA world champion when he challenged de Ridder for the ONE light heavyweight MMA world title at ONE on Prime Video 5.

Despite dropping down a weight class, a leaner and meaner Malykhin decimated de Ridder and knocked the Dutch star out in the first round to capture his first piece of undisputed gold.

Malykhin then returned to his natural weight class in his next match at ONE Friday Fights 22 and battered Arjan Bhullar to become the undisputed ONE heavyweight MMA world champion.

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Anatoly Malykhin shares secret to dropping to middleweight

Anatoly Malykhin typically competes at ONE Championship’s 265-pound division, so cutting down 60 pounds to make the middleweight limit is a daunting task.

Nevertheless, the jovial juggernaut has a secret to shedding that much weight.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Malykhin shared his secret to making the middleweight limit and facing de Ridder in Qatar:

“So the secret is in chocolate. I eat less chocolate, and when I was the heavyweight I was eating every day. I was eating like two chocolate bars, but now I'm eating just one. [When I move back to heavyweight] I'm just going to switch to three bars per day.”

ONE 166 is ONE Championship’s first on-site live event in Qatar, and the entire card will be broadcast live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.

Watch Anatoly Malykhin's entire interview below: