“Train hard, fight easy” - Fans take notes of Anatoly Malykhin’s intriguing workout in preparation for middleweight debut

The reigning ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin has been an unstoppable force of nature since debuting for ONE Championship in 2021, and he is hungry for more gold.

“Sladkiy” will get his opportunity to be the first-ever three-division world champion in the promotion’s history when he faces heated rival Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar for the ONE middleweight MMA world championship.

A long-time heavyweight who has immense power and stamina for his size, Malykhin knows that he will have to make a lot of sacrifices in order to reach the middleweight limit of 205lbs (93kg) in the hopes of repeating his dominant knockout win over de Ridder from December 2022.

Malykhin recently shared a snippet of his training for his ONE middleweight MMA debut, and fans were nonetheless intrigued by the Russian’s preparation:

“It’s great to have a figure to learn the fighting techniques of a champion.”

“Good workout”

“What a machine!”

“First de Ridder, then bedtime again for Aliakbari within the first 2 minutes..”

“Train hard, fight easy”

Malykhin’s challenge for de Ridder’s ONE middleweight MMA world title goes down on March 1 at Lusail Arena in Qatar.

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Anatoly Malykhin’s hilarious take on how he will reach middleweight limit

It is no secret that Malykhin has grown in popularity among fans for his funny responses during his interviews, and he added another one to his long list of iconic moments.

The wit that he possesses was in full display during an interview with ONE Championship, where he shared that in order to drop from the 265lbs (120.2kg) heavyweight limit to that of middleweight, Malykhin shared that he needs to “not raid the fridge after 6 p.m.”