Anatoly Malykhin wants to grapple Amir Aliakbari in wrestler vs. wrestler showdown

Anatoly Malykhin says he’s all for a heavyweight rematch against Amir Aliakbari - but only in submission grappling.

The reigning double-world champion is readily available to tackle his next challenge after unifying the ONE heavyweight belt on June 24.

With options galore, Malykhin is certainly open to whatever pool ONE Championship decides to choose from.

Whether it’s a rematch with Reinier de Ridder for either the light heavyweight or middleweight world titles or another ONE heavyweight world title defense - he’s not entirely picky as to who could be next.

But one potential matchup, however, recently caught his interest. In the follow-up to his recent victory at ONE Friday Fights 22, ONE Championship was curious to know if a rematch with Aliakbari was something he might want to revisit.

The ONE light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion replied:

“I'm ready to fight Aliakbari in grappling, we can do it in August or July, no problem at all. That would be a cool event: Aliakbari and Malykhin - rematch, but in grappling. One is a classic wrestler, the other one is a freestyle wrestler. That would create some buzz.”

Anatoly Malykhin and Amir Aliakbari crossed paths back in September 2021 - a time when the top heavyweights were fighting to get their shot at an interim world title.

Malykhin, obviously proved the better striker after finishing Aliakbari by way of knockout in the first round.

However, Malykhin is willing to give the Iranian a second chance to prove his skills using something he’s proficient at: wrestling. Both men come from the same school of training, and are therefore very similar in terms of style.

The only difference is that Aliakbari has more experience. He’s a former United World Wrestling and Asian Wrestling champion, which is something Malykhin looks forward to testing just for the experience.

If this matchup gets enough traction online, fans could very well see a potential wrestler vs. wrestler showdown in the near future.