‘Reug Reug’ might make good Anatoly Malykhin look dangerous

Friday’s ONE Championship heavyweight title combat has been anticipated to be a doozy for some time, and that was confirmed on the information convention.

Tempers weren’t precisely stored in verify when three-division champ Anatoly Malykhin and Oumar Kane (aka “Reug Reug”) squared off for the ONE 169 heavyweight title important occasion.

Malykhin (14-0) bought a bodily response from Kane (6-1) of their faceoff, and after just a few extra bodily selections they needed to be separated.

Former UFC middleweight champion and present ONE VP Wealthy Franklin thinks there’s motive to really feel a buzz across the heavyweight headliner as a result of Malykhin is again within the division and never down a weight class or two.

“It’s been some time since we’ve had a heavyweight title match, notably with Malykhin bouncing round and the totally different matches he did within the totally different weight courses,” Franklin instructed MMA Junkie Radio. “That is the primary time we’ve had the king in that division again once more (shortly), so this can be a massive deal.”

Malykhin by no means has been out of the third spherical and has all 14 of his wins by end, together with two over former two-division champ Reinier de Ridder, who makes his UFC debut Saturday within the co-main occasion.

His dominance has led to him being a prohibitive 10-1 favourite on the betting window in opposition to Kane. However Franklin cautioned in opposition to counting out the 32-year-old from Senegal.

“‘Reug Reug’ – I’ll say this: I wasn’t a giant believer when he got here into the group. I used to be like, meh,” Franklin mentioned. “However every combat, he’s been capable of shut the hole a bit extra and a bit extra. I feel Malykhin goes to be a troublesome opponent for him – a really robust opponent – so he’ll must up his sport as a result of Malykhin is extra of the entire bundle.

“I do consider ‘Reug Reug’ must depend on his wrestling extra. However ‘Reug Reug’ is a brilliant athletic man, and due to his wrestling, he’s a bit extra unorthodox together with his putting – so that may oftentimes make good fighters look dangerous, as properly.”