“Take his other belt” - ‘Reug Reug’ Oumar Kane has sights on Anatoly Malykhin’s heavyweight and light heavyweight titles
'Reug Reug' isn't only coming for Anatoly Malykhin's ONE heavyweight MMA world championship.
On Friday, November 8, Senegalese sensation Oumar Kane—better known by fight fans as 'Reug Reug'—will return to the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, for the biggest fight of his mixed martial arts career thus far. Headlining a loaded ONE 169 card inside the iconic arena, Kane will challenge the current three-division king for undisputed heavyweight MMA gold.
Kane earned his first shot at the ONE world title with a dominant performance against 17-time BJJ champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida at ONE Fight Night 13 last year.
Speaking with the promotion before his first appearance of 2024, Kane made it clear that the heavyweight strap isn't the only thing he plans on taking from Anatoly Malykhin.
"I will go down to 100kgs and take his other belt," Kane said. "After that, I’m going to go up again and fight another guy, no problem."
Thus far, 'Reug Reug' is 6-1 in his MMA career with four knockouts under the ONE Championship banner.
Anatoly Malykhin looks to continue his unbeaten run against the always dangerous 'Reug Reug'
ONE 169 will be Malykhin's first time defending the heavyweight title after trading in his interim belt for undisputed gold against ex-champion Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22.
Before that, Malykhin bested Reinier de Ridder in December 2022 to pick up the light heavyweight title. Of course, two belts weren't enough for the Russian juggernaut. In his last outing at ONE 166 in Qatar, Malykhin ran it back with 'The Dutch Knight' and scored yet another highlight-reel knockout to claim the promotion's middleweight MMA world title.
Malykhin has every intention of defending all three belts, but first, he'll have to get past one of the most well-rounded heavyweights in the world this Friday night.
Fans in the United States and Canada can watch ONE 169: Malykhin vs. ‘Reug Reug’ live on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, November 8 in U.S. primetime.