“I’m on a different level” – Anatoly Malykhin reacts to Islam Makhachev’s praise on Instagram

Anatoly Malykhin is an incredibly confident world champion, but that confidence comes from how hard he works day in and day out in the gym.

At ONE 166: Qatar, he made history by stopping Reinier de Ridder for a second time and becoming a three weight world champion.

Malykhin was once again incredibly self assured that there would only be one result ahead of the fight, but that doesn’t come from lacking respect for his opponents.

The undefeated Russian simply believes that he is competing at a tier above his opponents right now and it shows in his performances.

During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Anatoly Malykhin explained his mindset and quoted the UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev who recently praised him as the “most dangerous guy on the planet:”

“I’ll quote Islam Makhachev–‘In this game, there are different levels...Reinier is great, but I’m on a different level. It’s my coach, my team, my wife, my family. They give me confidence. I leave my whole self out there. Reinier is very talented and very tough. But he cannot beat me. I am tougher.”

Anatoly Malykhin has backed up everything that he has said

It has become hard for anyone to argue with Anatoly Malykhin when you look at what he says and then goes out and does inside the Circle.

His winning streak at multiple weight classes has simply never been done in MMA before but above all else, it’s the manner of his performances that speaks volumes.

Even against a world class middleweight like Reinier de Ridder, there was a sense of inevitability that sooner or later, Malykhin would find a way to get his hand raised.

North American viewers who missed any of the action from ONE 166: Qatar can watch the full event back via the free replay on Prime Video.