Oumar Kane And Anatoly Malykhin To Settle Their Rivalry At The Inner Circle On May 15
The first fight between these two men lasted 25 minutes, ended in a split decision, and sent shockwaves through the heavyweight division. The rematch is now confirmed, and it will be every bit as significant.
ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane will defend his title against former divisional king Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin at The Inner Circle on Friday, May 15, live in Asia primetime from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium.
Their first meeting at ONE 169 in November 2024 rewrote the script on what many assumed was an unbeatable fighter. Malykhin entered that bout undefeated and holding an unprecedented three-division MMA World Championship status. Kane dismantled that aura over five hard rounds, leveraging his Lutte wrestling background and powerful clinch work to disrupt Malykhin’s forward pressure and claim a split-decision victory. It was the Russian’s first professional defeat and one of the most significant results in ONE heavyweight history.
The rematch was originally booked for ONE 173 last November, but Kane was involved in a serious car accident in the United Arab Emirates and was forced to withdraw. The delay has done nothing to diminish the stakes. If anything, both men arrive at May 15 carrying sharper focus and more to prove.
Kane makes his first title defence with his position at the top of the heavyweight division still being questioned by some. Malykhin, who simultaneously holds the ONE Middleweight and ONE Light Heavyweight MMA World Titles, returns as the man who has finished every other opponent he has faced and views the lone blemish on his record as unfinished business.
The animosity between them runs deep, built over years of heated exchanges, physical pre-fight confrontations, and a rivalry that has never truly cooled. When they meet again at Lumpinee Stadium in May, all of that history comes to a head. Only one man leaves with the ONE Heavyweight MMA World Title.
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