“He will have learned his lesson” – Anatoly Malykhin believes Dmitry Menshikov will fight for the title again
MMA's first and only three-division world champion, Anatoly Malykhin, recently spoke about his countryman, Dmitry Menshikov, and his upcoming battle against Sinsamut Klinmee at ONE Fight Night 22 on May 3.
The Russian striking specialist didn't have the best promotional debut in ONE last year, losing a five-round world title bout to then-ONE lightweight kickboxing world champion Regian Eersel.
However, since going down to the wrath of 'The Immortal's clinical striking, the Russian dynamo has bounced back by scoring back-to-back KO wins over Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong and Mouhcine Chafi. Another win over former world title challenger Sinsamut may very well propel him back to world title contention.
Anatoly Malykhin shares these sentiments, telling ONE Championship:
“Dmitr Menshikov is a great athlete. I think after one or two more fights and he will try his luck for the belt again. This time he will have learned his lesson and the Kuzbass region will have a second world champion.”
Anatoly Malykhin reveals what Dmitry Menshikov has to do to beat Sinsamut at ONE Fight Night 22
On what his fellow Russian has to do to get past his feared Thai opponent, Malykhin cited one of his favored weapons as something Dmitry Menshikov should use.
He told ONE:
“I think working the body, working the transitions from the body to the head is the key to winning. I think it's the striking that will swing the decision in Menshikov's favor this time.”
Hitting your opponent in the body can help weaken their endurance and deplete their stamina. We've seen Malykhin do exactly this to win his historic third world title against Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar last March. 'Sladkiy' brutalized 'The Dutch Knight' to the body until he retired to the floor, seemingly out of exhaustion.
Let's see if Dmitry Menshikov will use his fellow Russian's advice at ONE Fight Night 22, airing live in U.S. primetime free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.