Anatoly Malykhin traded in his interim heavyweight title for undisputed gold on Friday after securing a third-round TKO against ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar.
Emanating from the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, ONE Friday Fights 22 featured a heavyweight main event more than a year in the making as Russian knockout artist Anatoly Malykhin sought to unify his interim ONE heavyweight title with Arjan Bhullar’s undisputed heavyweight world championship. He did exactly that, dominating ‘Singh’ through nearly three rounds before ultimately dragging Bhullar to the canvas and pounding out the biggest victory of his career.
With the win, Anatoly Malykhin moved to 13-0. He also kept his 100% finish rate intact while adding another 26 pounds of ONE Championship gold to his collection. ‘Sladkiy’ now reigns as both the ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight world champions. If he gets his wish, Malykhin will have the opportunity to become the first-ever three-division titleholder in MMA history as he hopes to challenge reigning ONE middleweight champion Reinier de Ridder in October.
Until then, the Russian juggernaut will simply have to make do with the two massive world title belts already in his collection.
Official Result: Anatoly Malykhin def. Arjan Bhullar via TKO (strikes) at 2:42 of Round 3.
