At ONE Fight Night 13: Allazov vs. Grigorian on August 4, Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida will face “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane in a pivotal heavyweight clash inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Buchecha” has remained undefeated in all four of his bouts in ONE, while Kane is riding back-to-back wins in the promotion and has won four of five overall. With their impressive runs, the winner of this much-anticipated clash could find themselves first in line to challenge Malykhin’s newly unified divisional crown.
Heavyweight Champion, Anatoly Malykhin will be rooting for Buchecha
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Just like he did at last month’s event, the heavyweight king wants his potential future opponent to know that he will be watching. At ONE Fight Night 12, he took to the ring to respond to Amir Aliakbari’s call-out following the Iranian’s win over Dustin Joynson. This time around, though, Malykhin will enter Lumpinee Stadium with a clear favorite in mind, and he will be cheering him on to succeed. “One of the main reasons I’m going to ONE Fight Night 13 is to watch Buchecha,” he told ONE.
“I’ll be rooting for him. I am not going to hide it. I like him as a fighter and as a person. One day, I will be happy to share the ring with him. It will be a good fight for me and for him, and then the best will win, as they say. I think he will win because he is better in every aspect.”
“I think that he will finish with a submission because his opponent does not have his grappling, and he gets tired very quickly. ‘Reug Reug’ showed in the fight with [Kirill] Grishenko that he has a weak character. He could not keep on fighting. That’s why I think it will be easy for Buchecha to win this match.”
“Buchecha” has been nothing short of spectacular every time he has stepped in to compete in ONE. All four of his opponents have fallen in the first round, thanks to the BJJ great’s seamless integration of his world-class ground game into his MMA arsenal. While Malykhin is rooting for the American Top Team representative. He is doing so for somewhat selfish reasons. The two-division ONE World Champion says he’s interested in fighting Almeida precisely because he is undefeated and because people think he is a major threat.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Malykhin wants to fight Buchecha in America
The Golden Team representative wants to get his chance to disavow the world of these notions, and he would like their potential battle to take place in one of the four events that ONE has planned in the United States next year. “If ‘Buchecha’ still wants to be undefeated, then he doesn’t need to call me out yet. I think this fight should be hyped. This fight should take place in America next year. It’s going to be a big main event for America,” Malykhin said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
“Why am I interested in it? Because he’s undefeated, because everybody thinks he’s the best jiu-jitsu fighter in the world. Everybody thinks he’s a threat to me, but I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be a good media fight, but I will win early. And I will finish by knockout.”
ONE Fight Night 13 will be broadcast live and free on Prime Video for fans across North America with an Amazon subscription.
