Why You Shouldn’t Miss the Three World Title Fights for ONE 166: Qatar

This weekend marks a historic milestone for ONE Championship, and the promotion is bringing out the big guns to celebrate. ONE 166: Qatar, which goes down this Friday, March 1, will be the first show that the world’s largest martial arts organization has put on in the Middle East, and three World Championship bouts will feature at the top of the stacked card.

A slew of exciting battles will bolster the lineup, but let’s break down what fans will be treated to when six of the finest athletes on the ONE roster take to the Circle inside the Lusail Sports Arena to compete for gold.

De Ridder vs. Malykhin II – ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship

Anatoly Malykhin is out to do what no one has done before in ONE when he challenges Reinier de Ridder for the ONE Middleweight MMA World Championship in the ONE 166 main event.

The Russian powerhouse already owns the light heavyweight and heavyweight World Titles, so if he defeats “The Dutch Knight” a second time he’ll become a three-division king.

Fans can expect De Ridder to come out with purpose, however. After suffering the first loss of his MMA career and losing the light heavyweight crown at the hands of Malykhin, the confident Dutchman will do whatever it takes to prove that he is the better fighter in the rematch.

History will be made in this bout – be it via “Sladkiy” scoring a third belt or De Ridder handing him his first loss.

Tang vs. Le II – ONE Featherweight MMA World Championship

Interim featherweight MMA king Thanh Le is a prolific finisher, and reigning divisional king Tang Kai has dynamite power, so their World Title unification bout has all the makings of a barnburner this Friday.

Their initial meeting in August 2022 was expected to be a slobberknocker between two skilled strikers, but Tang took a tactical route on his way to claiming the divisional crown via unanimous decision.

The Chinese World Champion has been out since then due to injury, and in his absence, Le claimed the interim crown at the expense of Ilya Freymanov at ONE Fight Night 15 last October. That win came via a surprise submission from the Vietnamese-American standout, which showcased that he’s been working on his grappling game.

This could cause problems for Tang, but fans can bet that he’ll have been watching with keen eyes and will be looking to make a statement by cementing his reign atop ONE’s featherweight MMA division when they run it back.

Also Read: ONE Championship Builds Up to ONE 166: Qatar With a Slew of Events, Starting With Star-Studded Press Conference

Brooks vs. Pacio II – ONE Strawweight MMA World Championship

The buildup to the first match between Jarred Brooks and Joshua Pacio was one of the most entertaining stories to watch in 2022, and the battle itself was just as enthralling when it went down at ONE 164.

Now they’re slated to meet again, and their fierce rivalry is revived thanks to both men having absolute confidence in their improvements over the last 15 months.

Pacio now trains at Lions Nation MMA, a stable he founded with some of his former teammates from the famed Team Lakay. In his last outing, he outclassed previously undefeated powerhouse Mansur Malachiev, and he plans to use that momentum to get revenge on “The Monkey God” for taking the strawweight MMA crown away from him.

Meanwhile, Brooks showed that his ground game can hang with the best in the world when he challenged flyweight submission grappling king Mikey Musumeci for his belt last April.
Despite losing out to the BJJ icon that evening, the brash American left with his head held high, and he’ll be out to affirm himself as king of the strawweight MMA division when he runs it back with Pacio.

All the action from ONE 166: Qatar will be broadcast live to over 190 countries around the world, including North America, where fans can watch via a Prime Video subscription.

Also Read: Reinier de Ridder Explains How His Gym Helps Feed His Passion for Martial Arts – “We’ve Always Shared Blood, Sweat and Tears”