Anatoly Malykhin to Defend Heavyweight Crown vs. Oumar Kane in ONE 169 Headliner

ONE Championship three-division title holder Anatoly Malykhin will defend his heavyweight crown against Oumar Kane when the promotion heads to Atlanta on Nov. 8.

ONE announced the main event booking in a release on Wednesday. ONE Championship 169 takes place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and marks the organization’s second trip to the United States in 2024. In the evening’s co-headliner, Tawanchai PK Saenchai will defend his featherweight (155-pound) muay thai belt against Joe Nattawut. The card will air live on Prime Video in the United States.

Malykhin is coming off a third-round technical knockout victory against Reinier de Ridder to claim the middleweight (205-pound) title at ONE 166 on March 1. The 36-year-old Russian owns a 14-0 professional mark — which includes six victories under the ONE banner. He captured heavyweight gold with a third-round stoppage of UFC veteran Arjan Singh Bhullar in June 2023.

A native of Senegal who is commonly known as “Reug Reug,” Kane has been victorious in six of his seven professional MMA appearances. He will take a three-bout winning streak into the matchup with Malykhin, with successive triumphs over Batradz Gazzaev , Jasur Mirzamukhamedov and Marcus Almeida to his credit.