At ONE Friday Fights 22, heavyweight titans Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin will compete against one another. ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong anticipates nothing less than a world-ending knockout from this matchup.
On June 23, Bhullar, who now possesses the ONE heavyweight world title, and Malykhin, who currently possesses the ONE light heavyweight and interim heavyweight world titles, will compete against one another in a fight for the right to be dubbed the undisputed ONE heavyweight world champion.
After the conclusion of ONE Fight Night 11, Sityodtong gave an interview to the South China Morning Post. In the interview, he stated that he anticipates Bhullar and Malykhin would engage in a striking match that will live up to the reputation of the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
Sityodtong said:
The fight between Anatoly and Arjan is not going to go the distance in my opinion. These two are not to be trifled with. The fact that they are both exceptional wrestlers is one way in which their skill sets are highly complementary to one another. And they both have a passion for boxing. When two wrestlers of similar skill level compete against one another, it almost always turns into a striking battle. And with that, someone is going to be sleeping.”
Although both Malykhin and Bhullar possess significant knockout power in their hands, the two competitors began their journeys in the martial arts with a wrestling foundation. Despite this, these two have established themselves as outstanding knockout artists ever since they first appeared on the world scene.
When Bhullar knocked out Brandon Vera for the heavyweight belt in May of 2021, he became the new king of the heavyweight division.
Malykhin, in the meantime, stormed his way to two world crowns and was virtually unbeatable in the process.
Following his knockout victory over Kirill Grishenko in February 2022, ‘Sladkiy’ was awarded the title of ONE Interim Heavyweight World Champion. After defeating Reinier de Ridder in December of that year, the Russian juggernaut added the ONE light heavyweight world title to his collection by knocking him out with a punch to the head.
