WATCH: Anatoly Malykhin’s merciless ground-and-pound puts BJJ black belt Alexandre Machado away
From the moment he first stepped inside the Circle, three-division world champion Anatoly Malykhin made it clear that he's not here to take part — he's here to take over.
Three years later, that's exactly what the Russian juggernaut has done, collecting the ONE heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight world titles to become the first fighter in MMA history to carry three world championship belts simultaneously.
Before returning to martial arts' biggest global stage this November, ONE Championship is looking back at where it all began with Anatoly Malykhin's impressive promotional debut at ONE: Fists of Fury II in 2021.
Check out Anatoly Malykhin's win against Alexandre Machado below:
Since then, 'Sladkiy' has added five more wins to his resume, extending his overall unbeaten streak to 14 and maintaining a 100 percent finish rate along the way.
With title victories over Kirill Grishenko, Arjan Bhullar, and Reinier de Ridder on two separate occasions, Malykhin has established himself as one of the greatest fighters on the planet — regardless of weight class. He'll look to continue his dominance this fall when he headlines ONE Championship's highly anticipated debut in Atlanta.
Anatoly Malykhin puts his gold on the line against 'Reug Reug' at ONE 169
On Friday, Nov. 8, ONE Championship will head to State Farm Arena in 'Hotlanta' for a historic night of fights headlined by a can't-miss title clash as Anatoly Malykhin puts his ONE heavyweight MMA world championship on the line against Senegalese sensation Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane at ONE 169.
Kane earned the opportunity after building an impressive 5-1 record under the ONE banner—his biggest victory coming in August 2023 when he handed 17-time BJJ world champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida his first loss in mixed martial arts.
However, as impressive as 'Reug Reug' looked in his fight with Almeida, Malykhin is more than confident that he'll make it an early night at ONE 169. On being asked for his prediction by ONE Championship, he said:
"Knockout in round one, win a bonus, then have a good time with my family after the win".
Following this link to register for ONE 169: Atlanta pre-sale tickets.