ONE championship's Anatoly Malykhin pays tribute to Fedor Emelianenko on Instagram

ONE double-world champion Anatoly Malykhin paid tribute to his MMA idol Fedor Emelianenko after watching the Russian’s last hurrah on Saturday.

‘The Last Emperor’ Fedor Emelianenko put an end to an illustrious 20-year-long MMA career at the age of 46, with a retirement fight against divisional heavyweight king ‘Darth’ Ryan Bader at Bellator 290 on Feb 4.

After the bell, Bader made history as the only fighter to have defeated the Russian veteran twice with a first-round stoppage. Later, the former PRIDE champion laid his gloves in the middle of the cage and thanked his family, friends, and God for a successful MMA career.

‘Sladkiy’ Anatoly Malykhin, who couldn’t attend the historic event due to preparing for his own world title match this year, paid tribute to his long-time idol and fellow countryman with a message on Instagram.

Translated, he said:

"The legend is gone. God bless him with health. Long years of life. To love his family and appreciate life. And I really want the future generation not to forget him and remember his contribution to mixed martial arts!"

Fedor Emelianenko left behind an unmatched legacy of 40 wins and 7 losses -including 16 KOs and 15 SUBs - to etch himself in the history books as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.

---

Watch Anatoly Malykhin train for heavyweight war against divisional king Arjan Bhullar

Russian standout ‘Sladkiy’ Anatoly Malykhin is all focus and no play as he trains for a heavyweight war against divisional king Arjan Bhullar next month.

Fans are keeping their fingers crossed in the hopes that neither fighter gets injured or seriously ill between now and March 24. For, their last scheduled bout at ONE 161 on Sept. 29, was called off at the eleventh hour due to Bhullar citing an injury.

Later, the ONE interim heavyweight world champion was given the opportunity to collect another belt which he claimed in epic fashion. He defeated former double-world champion Reinier de Ridder for the light heavyweight strap at ONE on Prime Video 5 on Dec. 2.

But now the time has come again for 'Sladkiy' to finally unite the heavyweight belt.

Watch Anatoly Malykhin headline the main event at ONE Fight Night 8 on Prime Video on March 24, live and for free with an Amazon Prime subscription.