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Three-division ONE MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin had the opportunity to spar with heavyweight UFC campaigner Tai Tuivasa and said he practically had his way against him.
'Sladkiy' said it took place at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand. He was unaware of who 'Bam Bam' was then but said he dominated him during their sparring session.
The 36-year-old Russian juggernaut, who is the reigning ONE middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight world champion, shared what went down in his sparring with Tuivasa in an interview with Red Corner MMA.
Anatoly Malykhin said:
"I worked with Tai Tuivasa here. We sparred at Tiger Muay Thai. The guys saw what I did to him. I only found out later on that he was supposed to be some kind of a star, doing his shoey, ranked pretty high in the UFC. When he sparred, he was like a little kid to me. I lifted him up, I did whatever I wanted to him."
Watch the interview below:
Anatoly Malykhin was last in action on March 1 at ONE 166: Qatar, where he made history by becoming a three-division MMA world champion by adding the middleweight gold to his world title haul with a third-round TKO of former champion Reinier de Ridder.
A replay of ONE 166: Qatar is available for free to North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.
Anatoly Malykhin touts his uniqueness as a heavyweight fighter
Russian heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin considers himself a unique fighter in the weight class and touts it as a big reason for his success.
A three-division MMA king, as he also holds ONE Championship's middleweight and light heavyweight championship belts, 'Sladkiy' said his skill set is far more extensive than those of the present contenders in the division.
That being the case, he said he would have no problem dealing with all of them.
He told ONE Championship in an interview:
"For me, they are very straightforward fighters, I understand their game and I can easily deal with them."
Among the contenders in the heavyweight division are streaking Iranian fighter Amir Aliakbari, BJJ legend Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida, undefeated upstart Ben Tynan, and topnotch wrestler 'Reug Reug' Omar Kane.
