Friday’s ONE Championship heavyweight title fight has been expected to be a doozy for a while, and that was confirmed at the news conference. Tempers weren’t exactly kept in check when three-division champ Anatoly Malykhin and Oumar Kane (aka “Reug Reug”) squared off for the ONE 169 heavyweight title main event. Malykhin (14-0) got a physical reaction from Kane (6-1) in their faceoff, and after a few more physical decisions they had to be separated. Former UFC middleweight champion and current ONE VP Rich Franklin thinks there’s reason to feel a buzz around the heavyweight headliner because Malykhin is back in the division and not down a weight class or two. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a heavyweight title match, particularly with Malykhin bouncing around and the different matches he did in the different weight classes,” Franklin told MMA Junkie Radio. “This is the first time we’ve had the king in that division back again (in a while), so this is a big deal.” Malykhin never has been out of the third round and has all 14 of his wins by finish, including two over former two-division champ Reinier de Ridder, who makes his UFC debut Saturday in the co-main event.
BAD MMA Trending Cloud
UFC • Bellator • Conor Mcgregor • PFL • Jon Jones • Daniel Cormier • Dustin Poirier • Khabib Nurmagomedov • Dana White • Francis Ngannou • Jorge Masvidal • Nate Diaz • Max Holloway • Anderson Silva • WSOF • Michael Chandler • Ronda Rousey • Alex Pereira • Michael Bisping • Amanda Nunes • islam makhachev • Alexander Volkanovski • Donald Cerrone • Kamaru Usman • Tony Ferguson • Henry Cejudo • Jake Paul • Charles Oliveira • Demetrious Johnson • sean o'malley • Jose Aldo • One Championship • Aljamain Sterling • Derrick Lewis • Stipe Miocic • sean strickland • Tyron Woodley • Robert Whittaker • Georges St Pierre • Chael Sonnen
- MMA News (116489)
- UFC 323 Press Conference Face-Offs
- UFC 323: Dvalishvili vs. Yan 2 Pre-Fight Press Conference
- Former champion gives his UFC 323 main event prediction
- President Donald Trump calls Joe Rogan
- UFC 323 Embedded, Episode 3: ‘Don’t be surprised if I knock this guy out’
- UFC Legend believes glove change is key to fixing MMA’s eye poke problem
- Jorge Masvidal on Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua: ‘I don’t think it’s rigged’
- Paige VanZant lands cover of Playboy Sweden
- UFC 323 Embedded, Episode 2: ‘All the hard work is done’
- Michael Chandler says Conor McGregor fight is happening