Anatoly Malykhin will leave career decisions to his wife Anita: “She’s my manager”

Anatoly Malykhin has been on an incredible upwards trajectory since arriving at ONE Championship. On ONE on Prime Video 5, Malykhin became a double world champion by defeating Reinier de Ridder and claiming the ONE light heavyweight world title.

The ONE interim heavyweight world champion handed ‘The Dutch Knight’ his first professional loss with a devastating knockout, giving ‘Sladkiy’ the biggest win of his career to date.

On top of the world championship that he has won, this fight has also opened up a lot of different options for the Russian wrecking ball.

The logical move for Malykhin would be to go back up to his more natural weight class and potentially face Arjan Bhullar in a heavyweight unification world title fight.

After defeating Reinier de Ridder, there could be a rematch on the cards with the Dutchman, potentially with the ONE middleweight world championship on the line if Malykhin can make the weight.

In his post-fight press conference, Anatoly Malykhin said that the decision is not in his hands:

“I think I'm going to leave it to my wife because she's my manager and of course the boss himself, Chatri. I'm ready for anyone. I'm just here to make the show so everyone should be ready.”

Watch the full press conference below:

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WATCH: Anatoly Malykhin tries to take down Kade Ruotolo

After being crowned double world champion, Anatoly Malykhin was up to his usual tricks. Following the end of ONE on Prime Video 5, the Russian tried to take Kade Ruotolo down after he successfully defended his ONE lightweight submission grappling world championship.

In the co-main event of the evening, Kade was able to keep his opponent, former IBJJF world champion Matheus Gabriel, in a defensive strategy and come out with a unanimous decision win.

When Kade Ruotolo and Anatoly Malykhin crossed paths backstage, the Russian showed his appreciation in typical Malykhin fashion by shooting for a single leg.

Waiting patiently behind the door, Kade was greeted by the Russian behemoth as soon as he stepped through the door, first defending the takedown and then congratulating him for his performance in the main event.

Watch Kade Ruotolo’s response at ONE on Prime Video 5 below:

Whilst Kade Ruotolo put on another fantastic display of grappling to defend his world championship for the first time, it was Malykhin’s knockout over Reinier de Ridder that really stole the show.

Although Malykhin was able to put his devastating power on display to get the finish, Ruotolo was forced to be patient to retain his title via unanimous decision.

Though his contest with Gabriel was an entertaining match, his opponent was strong defensively and didn’t leave much chance for Kade to lock in anything too dangerous aside from one ankle lock.