At ONE 166: Qatar, Anatoly Malykhin became the first-ever three-division World Champion. The Russian pummeled Reinier De Ridder to capture his third ONE Championship title, the ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship. “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang was keeping a close eye to see who he would have to target.
“It was a great fight. It went as I expected. We all know how some people can be stylistically a bad matchup for a certain fighter, and it doesn’t really matter what you do in a year’s time. Some people are just stylistically a bad matchup. Anatoly defended all the takedowns and was able to land his game plan which is to box him up. It pretty much broke Reinier in the third round,” Aung La N Sang told ONE.
The Myanmar superstar offered his congratulations to the newly minted champion. He noted the importance of the history-making feat but was steadfast in saying that the road would only get more challenging for “Sladkiy” from this moment onward. That is because defending the gold across three divisions will be harder than obtaining the titles in the first place.
The former two-division World Champion is one of those who will be vying for his gold. Aung La N Sang wants to get his ONE Middleweight MMA World Title back. The gold is the singular focus of the Kill Cliff MMA star.
“That’s the only reason why I keep fighting – to be champion again. That’s the only reason why I’m fighting still. I could retire now, but it wouldn’t be fun. It wouldn’t be fun for the ONE Championship middleweight division,” Aung La N Sang offered.
The excitement of the match is enticing for Aung La N Sang. He knows Malykhin’s forward-moving style compliments his game well and will give the fans plenty of action. As one of the biggest matches on the table for the promotion, “The Burmese Python” is hopeful for a future title shot.
“If we were to fight, there’s no way that any of us would back down, and we’ll put on a great show. Think about it – every fight that I fight, I fight for the finish. Every fight that he fights, he fights for the finish. There would be no yellow card in that fight. It would for sure be a barnburner for the fans,” the Myanmar icon said.
However, Malykhin may look to defend a different title first. That is OK with “The Burmese Python.” Aung La N Sang has no trouble biding his time before going for gold one more time inside the Circle.
“I don’t care how long it takes, I’m still gunning for the title. And it’s one of those things that I don’t need to be in this sport anymore, but I want to be because I still have that hunger. I still want to be champion again, and I still want to put on great shows for the fans. My job as a professional fighter is not done,” Aung La N Sang said.
In a recent episode of the Couch Warrior Podcast, host Mike welcomed Charalampos Grigoriou, who recently won a contract during season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series after knocking out Cameron Smotherman one minute into the fight. The conversation delved into Grigoriou's martial arts journey, his feelings on representing Cyprus and Greece, and future plans.
