Undefeated light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, Anatoly Malykhin, may have cemented himself as the best fighter competing outside of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) with a dominant win Friday morning (June 23, 2023) at ONE Friday Fights 22 from Bangkok, Thailand. Malykhin delivered a third-round TKO stoppage over heavyweight titleholder, Arjan Bhullar, to become ONE’s new double champion.
Malykhin, who pushed his undefeated professional record to 13-0 with the win, was coming off an impressive knockout stoppage over renowned submission specialist, Reinier de Ridder, back in Dec. 2022 to claim the ONE light heavyweight title. Before that, Malykhin scored a knockout win over Kirill Grishenko to earn the interim ONE heavyweight title. On Friday, Malykhin unified his heavyweight belt with Bhullar.
For the most part, Bhullar wanted nothing to do with this fight. The wrestling-heavy champion tried to buy time on the feet to close the gap, but Malykhin was relentless with his power punching, specifically to the body. Malykhin eventually wore Bhullar down, found himself in top control, and rained down heavy ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in.
It was yet another dominant performance by the Russian fighter. Malykhin now holds two ONE Championship belts and maintains his 100-percet finish rate.
Check out the video highlights above and below:
Right in the Bhullar belly
— ??????????? (@TheArtOfWar6) June 23, 2023
Malykhin absolutely RIPPING the body
— ??????????? (@TheArtOfWar6) June 23, 2023
Anatoly Malykhin is one of the best fighters outside of the UFC
He’s now an undisputed two weight champion at Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight. 13-0 with a 100% finish rate pic.twitter.com/VQxZ6rHpT9
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) June 23, 2023