Amir Aliakbari eyes potential fights against Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar

Amir Aliakbari hopes to fight Anatoly Malykhin or Arjan Bhullar in his next ONE Championship appearance.

On July 14, Aliakbari extended his winning streak to three fights by securing a first-round submission against Dustin Joynson. Shortly after getting his hand raised, the Iranian heavyweight called out the ONE heavyweight MMA world champion, Anatoly Malykhin, who was sitting ringside.

Malykhin stepped into the ring, and things quickly became physical, creating hype for a potential rematch against Aliakbari. During an interview with the South China Morning Post, the former Greco-Roman wrestling world champion called out ‘Sladkiy’ and former heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar by saying:

“Well, it depends on the weight. If Malykhin will be over 100 (kg) then that will be different you know and I prefer to fight also with I mean both of them and see what happens. And it depends on the way that they will have on that day and how they are going to arrange to fight with me.”

Amir Aliakbari started his ONE Championship tenure with back-to-back first-round knockout losses against Kang Ji Won and Anatoly Malykhin. Since then, he’s turned everything around by winning three consecutive fights inside the distance.

There’s no doubt that Amir Aliakbari has solidified himself as a future heavyweight world title challenger. The real question is, does he need another win?

On August 4, Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida and ‘Reug Reug’ Oumar Kane will meet in the ONE Fight Night 13 co-main event. If either fighter delivers an impressive performance, they could be Malykhin’s next heavyweight opponent.

In the meantime, Aliakbari could be matched up against Arjan Bhullar to determine who receives the following world title shot.