Three-division king Anatoly Malykhin shares 'crazy idea' of fighting two opponents in one night: "New history time"
Reigning and undisputed ONE heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight MMA world champion 'Sladkiy' Anatoly Malykhin of Russia has made a habit of putting together history-making performances.
The 36-year-old star recently became a triple champ, winning his third world title in as many divisions -- a feat no one in history has ever achieved before. Malykhin stopped The Netherlands' 'The Dutch Knight' Reinier de Ridder in the third round at ONE 166: Qatar earlier this month to capture middleweight MMA gold.
Now, Malykhin has another 'crazy idea' -- that's to fight two guys on one night.
Speaking to MMA Junkie in a recent interview, Malykhin talked about his outlandish proposition.
'Sladkiy' stated:
"If I'm thinking now, I'm more relaxed and I can think about my next opponent. I have another kind of crazy idea. I thought I'd like to go against two opponents in one evening, so that's what I'd like to do -- defeat two athletes [in one night] and create new history. Nobody has done it before, [it's] new history time."
Of course, single-day tournaments in MMA were all the rage in the 90's. But Malykhin is right to say that no one has ever accomplished this feat in the modern day, at least not on the global level.
What's next for Anatoly Malykhin? Two names come to mind
As the owner of the heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight MMA belts, Anatoly Malykhin has the tall task of defending all three belts as triple champ. But he's more than willing to do it.
In fact, there are two big names at heavyweight who want a piece of him -- Iranian sensation Amir Aliakbari, and Senegalese wrestler Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane.
Malykhin says he has no problems fighting both of them together. He told ONE Championship:
"Aliakbari certainly deserves his rematch more at the moment because he's got a four-fight winning streak and that's very serious. I am ready to go in the ring with both of them on the same night."