Talk of discontent among the fighter ranks in ONE Championship continues to rise, and another athlete has now gone public with his complaints.
Dmitry Menshikov has competed under the ONE Championship banner since June 2023. Following victories in organizations such as Glory, the Russian debuted in the Asian promotion at ONE Fight Night 11 in Bangkok, Thailand.
He arrived straight into a title shot, challenging the lightweight Muay Thai rule of Regian Eersel. Menshikov’s first taste of ONE action was quick, with “The Immortal” landing a knockout blow in just 46 seconds.
Since then, the 27-year-old has won three straight, most recently stopping fellow former title challenger Sinsamut Klinmee at ONE Fight Night 22 last April. Though he’s been away from the ring for 10 months, that’s seemingly not without trying.
A press release via Menshikov and his manager this week revealed major frustration at his layoff. They claim that numerous requests to fight were ignored and met with silence by the ONE Championship matchmakers.
The Russian is now approaching his return at ONE Friday Fights 97 later this month, but that booking would appear to have come too little, too late. The 27-year-old has served the organization with legal papers citing an alleged failure to fulfil contractual obligations and outlined his plan to enter free agency following his upcoming bout.
“I had some great fights with ONE, but a single bout per year is not a sustainable calendar for a competitive athlete and is a clear breach of the understanding between the fighter and the organization when we entered into a promotional contract,” Menshikov said. “For this reason, I will be entering free agency after the upcoming February 14th bout.
“I find it strange that all my wins are by KO or TKO, yet ONE chose to rebook the fighters I KO’d rather than myself. Maybe they were cheaper, I don’t know. It’s hard to know anything that’s going on at ONE – our attempts throughout 2024 to reach the matchmakers were met by deafening silence,” Menshikov continued. “Several fighters have left recently because of being frustrated, like Sage Northcutt and Reinier de Ridder, and I think that’s the best solution for me as well. My contract only has a few months left on it anyway. At this point it’s probably easier for us all to go our separate ways.”
The exact details of Menshikov’s ONE Championship contract and any potential breaches are unknown, but the kickboxing and Muay Thai fighter’s manager is seemingly confident about the claim.
“Clearly if you sign a fighter to an exclusive contract, the intention is not for him to compete just once a year,” Andrey Busygin said. “We struggled all year to get clear answers from ONE’s matchmakers. In fact most of the time we couldn’t get an answer at all.
“When 2024 ended with just a single bout, our legal team determined that ONE Championship had failed to perform its duties under the contract and informed ONE accordingly. We have taken this short-notice ONE bout on February 14th because Menshikov needs a fight, but after that he will be entering free agency and returning to a full competitive schedule.”
Menshikov marks the latest fighter to express displeasure at the current situation in ONE, which has largely centered around a perceived abandonment of mixed martial arts as a focus.
Both Reinier de Ridder and Sage Northcutt departed in 2024, with the former joining the UFC and the latter briefly signing with the PFL before entering the inaugural GFL draft last month.
More recently, flyweight MMA fighter Reece McLaren publicly requested his release in an open letter to ONE Championship on social media. Like Menshikov, the Australian cited an alleged “ghosting” from the matchmaking team regarding his desire to fight.