Senegalese sensation Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane shocked the world at ONE 169 in Bangkok, scoring a break up choice victory over Anatoly Malykhin to assert the ONE heavyweight title.
Issues received off to a smashing begin for Kane within the opening spherical as he shortly took Malykhin to the mat — turning into the primary fighter to ever achieve this contained in the Circle — and promptly ragdolling him. Nonetheless, Malykhin made a behavior out of placing his arm over the ring ropes to remain upright which is akin to grabbing the cage in a extra conventional MMA setting.
That prompted referee Herb Dean to challenge a powerful warning that ultimately resulted in a yellow card when Malykhin did it a second time.
Regardless of the early setback, Malykhin gave the impression to be in management for a lot of the final three rounds, repeatedly cornering ‘Reug Reug’ and touchdown just a few large blows earlier than fishing for a takedown he’d by no means fairly land. Dean stayed busy by breaking the fighters up each couple of minutes, however earlier than lengthy, they’d find yourself again in the identical place. Issues went that means for a lot of the ultimate 10 minutes, main many to consider that Malykhin’s aggression and management time would in the end win him the battle after going the space for the primary time in his profession.
As a substitute, the judges in Bangkok threw battle followers for a loop, crowning Kane the brand new ONE heavyweight king through a considerably controversial break up choice.
Official Outcome: Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane def. Anatoly Malykhin through break up choice to win the ONE heavyweight world championship.
With the win, Kane turns into ONE Championship’s first African-born titleholder.
In the meantime, Anatoly Malykhin suffered the primary lack of his profession, falling to 14-1 and seeing his coveted standing as MMA’s first and solely simultaneous three-division champion disappear. Nonetheless, ‘Sladkiy’ has each the ONE gentle heavyweight and middleweight world titles — two belts with loads of challengers chomping on the bit to problem the Russian juggernaut.
Try highlights from Anatoly Malykin vs. Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane at ONE 169:
