Senegalese knockout artist Oumar ‘Reug Reug’ Kane is ready for a ONE heavyweight world title fight after scoring the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career thus far.
On Friday night, ONE Championship returned to the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok for ONE Fight Night 13 on Prime Video. The event featured a stacked lineup, including a highly-entertaining scrap between two of the promotion’s most notable heavyweight standouts, ‘Reug Reug’ and 17-time BJJ world champion Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida.
Almeida went into the contest riding a four-fight undefeated streak, all coming via first-round finishes. As a result, ‘Buchecha’ undoubtedly went into the bout as the significant favorite, but in the end, ‘Reug Reug’ was able to withstand the ground game of the submission grappling superstar and punished his opponent over the course of 15 minutes.
The bout was by no means pretty with both men gassing out in the early going, but that didn’t stop the two warriors from giving it everything they had and earning the appreciation of fans watching around the world.
‘Reug Reug’ Calls for a Heavyweight Title Fight Following Impressive Win
With the victory, ‘Reug Reug’ is likely the next man in line for a heavyweight title opportunity. Speaking with the South China Morning Post following his win, Kane said:
“Inshallah! Yeah. Inshallah! I’m ready. Everything inshallah, I am ready. I am ready… He’s a good guy you know, I am ready to fight this guy… This is my belt. I am ready,” ‘Reug Reug’ said. “It doesn’t make sense for me to wait you know I shouldn’t be waiting. One Championship is my house and this is my belt so I should be fighting.”
Currently, Russian juggernaut Anatoly Malykhin is the holder of both the ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight world championships. In June, ‘Sladkiy’ got into a physical altercation with streaking heavyweight standout Amir Aliakbari. That led many to believe the Iranian wrestler would be the next man to challenge Malykhin, but after Friday night’s event inside the Mecca of Muay Thai, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than ‘Reug Reug’ stepping in with hopes of dethroning Malykhin.