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Anatoly Malykhin is as powerful as he is vindictive.
The reigning triple-champ always had aspired to conquer the mixed martial arts world, but his dreams were often met with doubt from the people who should have helped propagate his dream.
Malykhin told Brian Campbell of Morning Kombat that his teachers often scoffed at him whenever he talked about his ambitions of becoming an MMA world champion.
Those words, obviously, stung the young Malykhin, but the Russian superstar ultimately got the last laugh when he collected the ONE middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world titles.
Anatoly Malykhin said:
“Well, I've been working towards this since my very childhood at school when the teachers used to say, 'What are you going to be when you grow up?' I used to tell everybody 'I'm going to be the champion' and they used to say 'No you won't, you better study well,' but look where I am now.”
Malykhin also took the long road to his dream.
The jovial juggernaut started in Russia’s competitive grappling scene, yet he became a Master of Sport in freestyle wrestling in his native country.
‘Sladkiy’ then moved to MMA where he holds a perfect 14-0 record and is the first simultaneous three-division world champion in the sport’s history.
Anatoly Malykhin says he’s now the target of the world’s best heavyweights
Pound-for-pound arguments often start with the hypothetical scenario of how certain fighters would fare across multiple weight divisions.
Anatoly Malykhin went away with the hypotheticals and just proved his case for being one of the best by taking the ONE middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight MMA world titles.
Malykhin told Morning Kombat that as the reigning king of three divisions, every heavyweight in the world has him in their sights. He said:
“Well, indeed it's not a secret any longer. I think now every heavyweight on this planet has heard about me and what I can say is I'm ready for a big fight for a big challenge.”
Watch Malykhin's entire interview below:
