Amir Aliakbari calls out Anatoly Malykhin for a rematch

ONE light heavyweight world champion and interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin is bound for a massive unification bout with reigning heavyweight king Arjan 'Singh' Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights on june 23.

'Sladkiy' has had a bloody and violent romp to the top of two weight classes in ONE Championship. All his fights in the promotion ended in a knockout, with the Russian KO artist's hand raised in the end. One of his former victims, Iranian wrestling powerhouse Amir Aliakbari, seemingly wants another crack at Anatoly Malykhin.

'Sladkiy' posted a a recent photo from his fight preparations on Instagram:

"Everyone has their own path. The large and the prickly but we can get by. There is no other way out."

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Aliakbari, ever the brazen, left two comments on the post, calling out the double-champ:

Amir Aliakbari's comments on Anatoly Malykhin's post

Aliakbari said:

"Let's go 😈😉👊🏻"

"Rematch 👊🏻👿"

Malykhin, adept at getting under his opponent's skin, simply replied with:

"@amiraliakbari_98 😂"

Interesting match-up as both men are coming off big wins in ONE Championship. Aliakbari, ever since his KO loss to Malykhin in 2021, is on back-to-back TKO wins in the promotion. His most recent was a first-round decimation of former ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon Vera at ONE 164 in Manila.

Just a few hours earlier in the same city, at ONE on Prime Video 5, Anatoly Malykhin become a double world champion by knocking out previously undefeated Reinier de Ridder for the 225-pound strap. Not only did 'Sladkiy' win a second belt in a second weight class, but he also improved his record to 12-0 with 100% finishing rate.

Back in September 2021, Malykhin absolutely ran through Aliakbaria at ONE: Revolution. The heavy-handed Russian skirted any feeling-out process as he went swinging for the fences right away. After knocking the visibly bigger Aliakbari to the ground, 'Sladkiy' blasted his Iranian foe with knees from the front face-lock position.

After a brief separation, Malykhin ended the night as he knocked the hurt and tentative Aliakbari out with a tremendous left hand.

Watch the full fight here:

ONE Friday Fights 22 is available live and for free on ONE Championship’s digital platforms as well on its official broadcast partners.

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Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with 15 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by C. Nayak