Two-Division ONE World Champion Anatoly Malykhin Says Setback Against “Reug Reug” Fuelled His Improvement

Sometimes a setback can be the wake-up call you never knew you needed. This was true for reigning ONE Light Heavyweight and Middleweight MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin, who suffered the first defeat of his professional career and lost his heavyweight crown to "Reug Reug" Oumar Kane.

Now, the Russian has a chance to settle the score with his Senegalese arch-rival when they collide in a title rematch at ONE 173 on 16 November inside Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Before their last year's showdown, Malykhin enjoyed a pristine record, but "Reug Reug" handed him a rude awakening.

Nearly 10 months have passed since that title loss, and the 37-year-old has realised the biggest mistakes that proved costly. The man known as "Sladkiy" said that overthinking

and overtraining led to his defeat.

"These are the two mistakes. The first mistake I made was that I was overthinking. I thought that 'Reug Reug' could do something supernatural. Everyone around me was telling me this. I didn't need to listen to anyone. I should have just done my job," he said.

"Second, I simply overloaded myself with too much. And with me thinking too much, I had too much volume of training that my body couldn't handle. I was thinking too much about everything. "

Malykhin entered ONE Championship with a perfect record of 8-0 and tore through his rivals like a hot knife through butter. All six of his victories came via stoppage, including wins over Reinier de Ridder and Arjan Bhullar.

Now, Malykhin is eager to showcase his world-class fighting style, as the Russian believes he has found his groove. The first-ever three-division MMA World Champion also admitted that he had been entering fights hastily.

"Nothing is holding me back now. I've got the most important thing with me right now - the thirst and pleasure in enjoying what I do. Because in my recent fights, I was going into fights [in a rush], and that was my biggest mistake," he said.