Photo via onefc.com
Anatoly Malykhin confident that Vitaly Bidgash wins ONE middleweight title
Anatoly Malykhin is the ONE Championship interim heavyweight champion so you could say he knows a thing or two about working for championship gold.
In one week’s time, Tiger Muay Thai, the gym where Malykhin prepares for his fights, may have another champion among its ranks.
Vitaly Bigdash will challenge for the ONE middleweight championship when he meets current champion Reinier de Ridder in the main event of ONE 159 in Singapore.
“Vitaly came to us to Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand to finish his preparation for the fight with De Ridder,” Malykhin said. “I personally work with him daily. He is a very tough guy. He has good wrestling. He is very fast with very powerful and fast strikes.”
Despite de Ridder being a two-division champion, Malykhin is confident that his teammate will dethrone the current middleweight king on July 22.
“I think Vitaly will confidently win this fight. He won’t give in to [De Ridder’s] wrestling, will strike well, will defend the takedown well, and will land his new ONE Championship belt. And I think he will grab a bonus as well.
“Watch all Vitaly’s fights, they are very spectacular, almost all ending with a knockout. Vitaly always hunts for a good knockout. As for De Ridder, I don’t think we’ll see anything new. He will show an unspectacular fight trying to take to the ground and bind up. Our hope is that Vitaly will drop him beautifully.”
ONE 159 fight card:
Reinier de Ridder vs. Vitaly Bigdash – 205 lbs
Janet Todd vs. Lara Fernandez – 115 lbs
Bokang Masunyane vs. Hiroba Minowa – 125 lbs
M. PK Saenchai vs. Vladimir Kuzmin – 145 lbs
Peimian Zhang vs. Aslanbek Zikreev – 125 lbs
Zhaxi Zelang vs. Danial Williams – 125 lbs
Sinsamut Klinmee vs. Islam Murtazaev – 170 lbs
Ariel Sexton vs. Marat Gafurov – 170 lbs
Jessa Khan vs. Amanda Alequin – 115 lbs
Tae Ho Jin vs. Valmir da Silva – 185 lbs
M. Jamal Abdul-Latif vs. Anderson Silva – 265 lbs
Lea Bivins vs. Zeba Bano – 115 lbs
