Three-division MMA king Anatoly Malykhin grateful to be recognized as one of the best Russian fighters: "It's an honor"

Anatoly Malykhin is still far from calling it a career but is grateful that this early he is being considered as one of the best Russian fighters. It is an honor that he looks to continue living up to moving forward.

'Sladkiy' recently made history by becoming a three-division MMA world champion by winning the ONE middleweight world title with a third-round TKO of former divisional king Reinier de Ridder at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1. The champion belt was in addition to the light heavyweight and heavyweight MMA world titles already in his possession.

Following his latest title conquest, some quarters have hailed 36-year-old Malykhin as among the best Russians to compete in MMA, something he feels truly honored.

He shared on the MMA Junkie:

"So we'll see at the end of my journey , where people put me and they rate me. Right now, I'm just happy to be even mentioned next to the greatest [Fedor Emelianenko]. It's an honor."

Check out what he had to say below:

Since making his ONE Championship debut in March 2021, Anatoly Malykhin has been a total juggernaut, winning six straight, all by way of devastating KOs. He has shown no signs of slowing down, even eyeing more title conquests in different disciplines.

ONE 166: Qatar was held at the Lusail Sports Arena. Its replay is available for free to North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription.

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Fabricio Andrade not surprised with growing legend of Anatoly Malykhin

ONE bantamweight MMA world champion Fabricio Andrade is one of those impressed with the growing legend of Anatoly Malykhin and is not all surprised that he is experiencing all the success he has been having.

'Sladkiy' became the first-ever ONE Championship fighter to hold three MMA division titles at the same time by adding the middleweight gold at ONE 166: Qatar on March 1 with a third-round TKO of former champ Reinier de Ridder. It was in addition to his hardware haul, which includes the light heavyweight and heavyweight belts.

In an interview with Sportskeeda MMA, Andrade, who like Malykhin trains at Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand, said when the Russian told him he would vie for the middleweight title, he had no doubts about him succeeding, seeing how puts in the work to achieve his goals.

'Wonder Boy' said:

"To be honest, I expected him to do that, you know. When he said he was going down to middleweight, I knew he could do it. There was no problem."

Including his victory at ONE 166, Anatoly Malykhin now has an unblemished 14-0 record in his professional MMA career.