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When Anatoly Malykhin first arrived in ONE Championship, he was a very different fighter from the one that we now see before us today.
The undefeated Russian came into the promotion with a flawless record of 8-0 and looked to build on that by hitting the ground running.
That, he certainly did when he finished Alexandre Machado in the opening round to announce himself as a serious threat in the heavyweight division.
Anatoly Malykhin's early career was all about his freestyle wrestling background and he gave fans a good glimpse at that in this fight.
Taking Machado down early, his opponent soon found himself in the crucifix position, a scenario that is notoriously difficult to escape from once you're in it.
From there, Malykhin continued to pile on the pressure with his strikes, and due to the position, Machado couldn't effectively defend himself which forced the referee to step in and wave the fight off.
Check out the full fight below:
This was just the beginning for Anatoly Malykhin
Even after an impressive debut like that back in 2021, no one could have predicted what Anatoly Malykhin would go on to achieve in the following three years.
The three-sport world champion has gone from strength to strength with each passing fight as his accomplishments and skill level continue to grow.
This fight saw him dominate the contest with his wrestling and since that point, the Russian has been far more reliant on his striking.
With his opponents unable to take him down due to his excellent grappling, they're forced to try and navigate the striking exchanges against a fast knockout artist who seemingly has an infinite gas tank.
Anatoly Malykhin may have put the division on notice with this performance but now he's beginning to lap the other contenders by coming back around for potential rematches.
Case in point, his win over Reinier de Ridder in his last fight, where despite a better performance from his opponent in the rematch, he dominated the action in Qatar to become MMA's first three-division world champion.
ONE Championship fans can rewatch ONE 166: Qatar via the free event replay at watch.onefc.com.
