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Anatoly Malykhin has been a killer since day one of his MMA career.
In an Instagram video shared recently by a fan account for the ONE light heavyweight and interim heavyweight world champion, fans got a look at how devastating Malykhin has always been (as well as how far he’s come).
The fight was his professional MMA debut at the SK Pro promotion in Tomsk, Russia in September of 2016. He fought Ilya Gunenko, who was already twelve fights deep into his professional career.
Take a look at how the fight transpired:
It took place in a flimsy ring with only a few hundred spectators, but surely those in attendance realized that they were witnessing a special talent in Anatoly Malykhin.
Almost seven years later, he still hasn’t lost a fight.
In fact, he’s only separated himself farther and farther from the pack, looking more unbeatable with each showing in the ONE circle.
In his last outing, he smoked Reinier de Ridder inside of one round, unleashing an atomic bomb of strikes on the former world champion until the light heavyweight belt was his.
Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida believes Anatoly Malykhin’s “clock is ticking”
One fighter unafraid to tangle with Malykhin is Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida.
In a recent interview with MMA media outlet MMA Hoje, 'Buchecha' gave his thoughts on Anatoly Malykhin and how he’d like to test him:
"He’s good in wrestling and very good boxing. Heavy hands, but we didn’t see his jiu-jitsu yet. No one really put his jiu-jitsu to the test yet. But it is what it is. You could be the best in the world. His clock is ticking, I’ll always trust my jiu-jitsu 100 percent."
Of course, many assumed that Reinier de Ridder would be the one to test Malykhin’s jiu-jitsu. De Ridder never had the might to get Anatoly Malykhin- who was dropping down from heavyweight- to the mat.
“Buchecha”, however, could be a different story.
Highly successful in the jiu-jitsu gi as well as in the ONE circle, Almeida has fought at heavyweight thus far in his tenure in ONE Championship as well.
In fact, he’s a perfect 4-0, finishing every opponent before the three-minute mark. It would certainly be interesting to see if Almeida could do what de Ridder and others could not - drag Malykhin into precarious waters concerning jiu-jitsu.
Anatoly Malykhin will fight heavyweight world champion Arjun Bhullar to unify the world titles on March 24th in Singapore. As he hasn’t fought since last August, 'Buchecha' could find a spot on that Amazon Prime card as well in case either man in the main event drops out.
Either way, if Anatoly Malykhin and Marcus Almeida continue the destructive rampages they’ve been on, they will eventually meet in the ONE circle.
