{"id":513290,"date":"2026-03-04T07:31:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513290\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:31:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:31:28","slug":"oumar-kane-opens-up-on-exciting-rematch-at-265","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513290\/","title":{"rendered":"Oumar Kane Opens Up On Exciting Rematch At 265!"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion \u201cReug Reug\u201d Oumar Kane has responded<\/a> to allegations from former three-division MMA king Anatoly Malykhin, making clear he has no intention of avoiding the Russian and is ready to deliver an even more dangerous version of himself in their rematch.<\/p>\n

Kane and Malykhin were set to run it back at ONE 173 in Japan last November, a rematch that fans across the world had circled on their calendars. A car accident in Dubai forced Kane out of the fight and left one of the most anticipated heavyweight rematches in recent memory without a date. Now fully recovered, Oumar Kane, the 33-year-old champion is hungry, healthy, and eager to settle unfinished business.<\/p>\n

The first meeting between the two sent shockwaves through the combat sports world. \u201cReug Reug\u201d handed Malykhin the first defeat of his career via split decision in November 2024, stripping him of the heavyweight gold and shattering the myth of the unbeatable three-division king.<\/p>\n

Oumar Kane Shuts Down Running Accusations<\/p>\n

Kane wasted no time addressing Malykhin\u2019s claims head-on. The heavyweight champion<\/a> made clear that a man who already defeated his rival has no reason to feel fear, \u201cReug Reug\u2019s\u201d tone left little doubt about where his confidence stands heading into their eventual rematch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running from him? Why would I be scared of this guy, man? This guy has no power. I\u2019ve already beaten him. I\u2019m not running away from you Malykhin. I fought you for five rounds, why would I run away? The next version of Oumar Kane is coming. The hungry Oumar,\u201d Oumar Kane said.<\/p>\n

The Senegal native made his ONE Championship debut in 2021, defeating multiple-time Muay Thai and Kickboxing World Champion Alain Ngalani in less than five minutes. From that explosive entrance, \u201cReug Reug\u201d went on to claim six impressive victories over top heavyweight MMA fighters before his coronation moment arrived in November 2024, when he defeated the then-undefeated Malykhin via split decision to claim the heavyweight gold.<\/p>\n

Oumar Kane Reveals Surprising Discovery About Malykhin\u2019s Infamous Power<\/p>\n

One of the most striking revelations in Oumar Kane\u2019s comments concerned his experience of absorbing Malykhin\u2019s vaunted left hook. The Russian\u2019s knockout power had long been considered among the most dangerous in all of ONE Championship, having toppled some of the promotion\u2019s finest heavyweights. Kane\u2019s first-hand account challenges that reputation in striking fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I fought him the first time, I thought his left hook was very hard and powerful. During our fight, I thought to myself, why is it that when he hits people, they go down? I\u2019m thinking about this and I ask myself why when I took it, it was easy? I ate this like it was easy,\u201d Oumar Kane said.<\/p>\n

\u201cReug Reug,\u201d who ate 18 lamb chops in one sitting<\/a>, built the foundation of his combat sports career in Senegalese wrestling before transitioning to MMA. Malykhin, now 38, remains the reigning ONE Light Heavyweight and Middleweight MMA World Champion despite the loss at heavyweight, keeping his status as a two-division king.<\/p>\n

Oumar Kane Salutes Malykhin\u2019s Showmanship While Eyeing Bigger Picture
\n\"MMA<\/a>Image Courtesy of ONE Championship.<\/p>\n

For all the verbal sparring between the two camps, \u201cReug Reug\u201d has also taken a step back to acknowledge what the rivalry means for the sport as a whole. Rather than dismissing Malykhin entirely, the champion framed their dynamic as exactly the kind of theater that martial arts fans deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnatoly is a great opponent. He sells the fight. He does everything. When I wind him up, he replies. That\u2019s what we need. It\u2019s good having good fighters. It\u2019s great having great fighters. But we need to entertain the fans. We\u2019re here to entertain the fans,\u201d Kane said.<\/p>\n

Kane\u2019s overall ONE record stands at seven wins and one defeat, a body of work built almost entirely against top-tier heavyweight competition since his 2021 debut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ONE Heavyweight MMA World Champion \u201cReug Reug\u201d Oumar Kane has responded to allegations from former three-division MMA king…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-513290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}