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Ever since crossing paths inside the Circle in September 2021 at ONE: Revolution, reigning ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight MMA world champion Anatoly Malykhin and heavyweight contender Amir Aliakbari have been jawing back-and-forth whenever they can.
The tension between them reached its peak when Aliakbari called Malykhin during his post-fight interview in July 2023 at ONE Fight Night 12 as the latter crashed into the ring, thus resulting in a scuffle.
The incident was reposted by ONE Championship on their Instagram account recently, and they captioned the video with:
“Bad blood brewin’ 😳 Can Amir Aliakbari take out Arjan Bhullar on March 1 at ONE 166: Qatar? 🇶🇦 @amiraliakbari60 @mediacityqa @visitqatar”
‘Sladkiy’ has the 36-year-old Iranian’s number after knocking him out in the opening round of their first meeting. But since then, Aliakbari has redeemed himself and scored three consecutive finishes against Mauro Cerilli, Brandon Vera, and Dustin Joynson to put his name in the world championship conversation.
As for the 35-year-old Russian, he continued his unbeaten streak by beating Kirill Grishenko, Reinier de Ridder, and Arjan Bhullar to join the exclusive club of ONE Championship athletes and capture world titles in two different divisions.
Anatoly Malykhin and Amir Aliakbari return to action at ONE 166 in Qatar with respective fights
Before the two heavyweight maulers can settle their differences for the second time, they need to get past their scheduled upcoming opponents first, with Malykhin pursuing a third world title when he challenges ONE middleweight MMA world champion Reinier de Ridder in the main event of ONE 166 on March 1, which will happen inside the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar.
Meanwhile, Aliakbari is slated to face former ONE heavyweight MMA world champion Arjan Bhullar in a potential world championship eliminator match on the same card and venue at ONE 166. A win for both Malykhin and Aliakbari could set up an inevitable world title rematch in the foreseeable future.
