DOHA:
ONE Championship (ONE), the world’s largest martial arts organization, made its historic return to the Middle East with ONE 166: Qatar, presented by Visit Qatar. Three World Title rematches headlined the stacked card.
Visit Qatar is the official presenting partner of ONE 166: Qatar. Other partners include official media partner Media City Qatar, official partner Ooredoo Qatar, official global energy drink partner Monster Energy, as well as Grand Hyatt Doha, Mondrian Doha, Qatar Living, and I Love Qatar.
In the main event, ONE Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin defeated Reinier de Ridder to capture the ONE Middleweight MMA World Title and become the only three-division MMA World Champion in history.
Malykhin stalked De Ridder around the Circle in the first round, unleashing clubbing uppercuts and hooks. “The Dutch Knight” tried his best to avoid the Russian’s power side, but Malykhin remained undeterred.
The second frame saw “Sladkiy” turn up the intensity even further, as he pummeled De Ridder’s body to take the wind out of the defending champion’s sails.
Malykhin unleashed a barrage of sledgehammer punches to start the third stanza. De Ridder tried to take the fight to the ground, but the Russian superstar stuffed the takedown attempt, unloaded heavy punches, and even fired a few knees at his rival’s head.
A missed opportunity at a triangle choke demoralized “The Dutch Knight,” and as Malykhin stood up to escape De Ridder’s guard, the latter chose to remain on the canvas due to exhaustion. As a result, the referee was forced to call a halt to the contest.
In the co-main event, Chinese phenom Tang Kai successfully unified the ONE Featherweight MMA World Championship with a technical knockout win over former titleholder Thanh Le.
It was a tactical matchup between the two elite featherweights, as both men were cautious of each other’s finishing ability. Tang did some good damage in the first round to take the lead early, busting up the Vietnamese-American’s nose. In the second frame, Le returned the favor and pushed the pace against the Chinese fighter, landing powerful combinations.
Midway through the third round, Tang connected on a monstrous right hand that had his opponent hurt along the Circle Wall. He completed the finish by unleashing ground-and-pound on a downed Le, who was unable to prevent the onslaught.
The World Title rematch between defending champion Jarred Brooks and #1 contender Joshua Pacio ended in a disqualification, after the American star inadvertently spiked his Filipino challenger on the head, which is an illegal move under the Global Mixed Martial Arts Rule Set. Pacio was then awarded the ONE Strawweight MMA World Championship.
For ONE 166: Qatar, ONE Championship has also been proud to partner with official premium luggage partner TUMI and official glove partner Fairtex, featuring branding in-stadium and inside the Circle, custom branded content across broadcast and digital, and more.
ONE Championship, in partnership with leading premium lifestyle and luxury performance brand TUMI, presented the prestigious ONE World Title belt to the World Champions.
ONE 166: Qatar Complete Results:
- Anatoly Malykhin defeats Reinier de Ridder via TKO (referee stoppage - ground strikes) at 1:16 of round three to claim the ONE Middleweight MMA World Title.
- Tang Kai defeats Thanh Le via TKO (referee stoppage - ground-and-pound) at 4:48 of round three to unify the ONE Featherweight MMA World Title
- Joshua Pacio defeats Jarred Brooks via disqualification at 0:56 to reclaim the ONE Strawweight MMA World Title
- Amir Aliakbari defeats Arjan Bhullar via disqualification at 4:15 of round three (MMA - heavyweight)
- Mehdi Zatout defeats Zuhayr Al-Qahtani via unanimous decision (boxing – catchweight 147 lbs)
- Vladimir Kuzmin defeats Zafer Sayik via unanimous decision (Muay Thai – catchweight 147.75 lbs)
- Cleber Sousa defeats Osamah Almarwai via submission (armbar) at 5:31 of round one (submission grappling – flyweight)
- Ali Saldoev defeats Zakaria El Jamari via KO (left hook combination) at 0:51 of round two (Muay Thai – catchweight 137.75 lbs)
- Shinji Suzuki defeats Han Zi Hao via unanimous decision (Muay Thai – bantamweight)
- Keito Yamakita defeats Jeremy Miado via submission (bulldog choke) at 4:04 of round one (MMA – strawweight)
Performance bonus winners:
- Anatoly Malykhin (US$50,000)
- Tang Kai (US$50,000)
