Reinier De Ridder to defend ONE Light Heavyweight World Title against Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Fight Night 5

Singapore, November 4: ONE Championship has announced the main event of ONE Fight Night 5, and it's a big one as two undefeated World Champions will collide in the headliner of the December 3 event.

Two-division king Reinier de Ridder will put his ONE Light Heavyweight World Title on the line against ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion Anatoly Malykhin inside the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

A black belt in both BJJ and judo, De Ridder joined the ONE roster in 2019, and he has been unstoppable since. The ONE Light Heavyweight and Middleweight World Champion holds a perfect 16-0 MMA record, with seven of those victories coming in the ONE Circle.

"The Dutch Knight" captured both titles in back-to-back battles against then-two-division World Champion Aung La N Sang in 2020 and 2021.

De Ridder has defended his middleweight title twice, defeating both Kiamrian Abbasov and Vitaly Bigdash via submission in 2022, and at ONE Fight Night 5 he'll make his first defense at light heavyweight.

Challenger Malykhin holds an unblemished record of his own with 11-0. Three of his wins have come via finish under the ONE banner, including against Kirill Grishenko, who he defeated in February to capture the interim World Title.

The 34-year-old Russian had been set for a title unification against ONE Heavyweight World Champion Arjan Bhullar in September, but that bout was canceled due to injury.

Instead, Malykhin will make the cut to light heavyweight for the first time in his career in search of adding another belt to his collection. A win would put "Sladkiy" among the few fighters in ONE who have claimed gold in two different weight classes.

De Ridder has long spoken of his desire to hold an unprecedented three world title belts at once, and a good showing against career heavyweight Malykhin would only further his claims for a title shot in the division.

The main event announcement for ONE Fight Night 5 makes it three World Title fights in total for the event.

Previously announced for the card was a ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Title tilt between divisional king Superbon Singha Mawynn and challenger Chingiz Allazov, and a ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Title unification between World Champion Allycia Hellen Rodrigues and interim titleholder Janet Todd.

Source: Media Release