Before the table tennis tournament in Tokyo, Swedish Mattias Falck declared that he wanted to defeat Ma Long - for his own sake, but also because Jan-Ove Waldner would still be considered the world's best player of all time.
Falck left the tournament before he got the chance to meet Ma Long, but no one else could beat him either.
The Chinese phenomenon won the men's singles final 4-2 in sets over Fan Zhendong.
Ma thus defended the title from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
In addition to his two singles golds, the 32-year-old from Anshan has won the men's singles in the last three World Cup tournaments.
He has also collected a number of titles in teams with China.
During his career, Jan-Ove Waldner won an Olympic gold (1992) and won the singles title at the World Cup on two occasions (1989 and 1997).