Double champ Anatoly Malykhin’s coach hints at "history time" in possible training camp

Two-division ONE world champion Anatoly Malykhin seems to be targeting a return to the ONE Championship Circle after releasing his latest training session on Instagram this week.

The Tiger Muay Thai gym representative always has hopes of booking a fight by the end of this year after claiming the undisputed ONE heavyweight world title against Arjan Bhullar this past June.

Although his next opponent hasn’t been announced yet, Malykhin is expected to defend his 265-pound belt against the likes of Amir Alikabari or ‘Reug Reug’ Oumar Kane. He could also defend the ONE light heavyweight world title in a rematch against former holder Reinier de Ridder.

However, despite there being no details about his return, Malykhin and his boxing coach, John Hutchinson, seem to know something we don’t.

This week on Instagram, Hutchinson teased a possible heavyweight return with the caption:

“HISTORY TIME.”

The ambiguous comment generated a lot of hype online from the fans as well as from members from the MMA community, such as former ONE double world champion Aung La N Sang.

Read the comments below:

Fan comments

Malykhin, 35, improved to an impeccable 13-0 record following his third-round destruction over former heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22.

The victory firmly established ‘Sladkiy’ as the undisputed heavyweight king after unifying his interim belt with Bhullar’s former strap.

Since claiming double-champ status, there has been no lack of potential opponents for the Russian.

Nobody will forget Malykhin’s intense face-off with Amir Aliakbari, for instance, during the Iranian’s post-fight interview at ONE Fight Night 12 this past July, where they both shouted threats at each other before getting into a tussle inside the ring.

Nor will they forget that there’s a potential rematch with former two-division king and current ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder, who just recently supported the idea of crossing paths again with the champ if they book his fight with Shamil Abdulaev at middleweight.

At this point in time, anyone looks good for Malykhin.