"I feel great" – Anatoly Malykhin says he’s never felt "faster" and "more powerful" ahead of middleweight world title clash

Ahead of his return at ONE 166: Qatar, Anatoly Malykhin has been facing a big challenge before he even steps inside the circle to try and become MMA’s first three-division world champion.

The undefeated Russian has already shown his dominance at both heavyweight and light heavyweight, and after beating Reinier de Ridder to become a two-weight world champ, he’s now after the Dutchman’s middleweight crown.

That’s a huge task considering that the last time we saw Malykhin compete, he was unifying the heavyweight titles against Arjan Bhullar. Suffice to say that the challenger is confident of how his preparations have been going while getting used to this middleweight frame.

Anatoly Malykhin told the South China Morning Post that, despite his opponent’s experience in this weight class, he believes that middleweight is going to suit him pretty well:

“I feel at middleweight, I don’t only feel faster, but I feel more powerful. Even though he has proven himself at middleweight, I feel great [and confident of a victory].”

See the full interview below:

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A healthy Anatoly Malykhin at middleweight is a scary prospect

Having already beaten Reinier de Ridder once before, when he handed ‘The Dutch Knight’ the first loss of his career in devastating fashion, Anatoly Malykhin will be confident of doing it again.

What makes this fight more interesting is that in order to become the first ever three-weight world champion, he has to try to compete as a middleweight.

All of the updates from Malykhin in recent weeks point to the fact that the cutting down process has been relatively seamless for the Russian powerhouse. ‘Sladkiy’ making middleweight while being healthy and full of energy is a very dangerous and scary prospect indeed.

ONE 166 will air live and free for North American viewers with an active Prime Video subscription. The event emanates from the Lusail Sports Arena on March 1.