Anatoly Malykhin learning English to get ‘closer to the ONE family’

ONE light heavyweight and interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin and his wife Anita talked about learning English ahead of his next world title fight.

The Russian-speaking fighter has a limited grasp of the English language. But as challenging as it is, he finds it equally important to learn English since it’s one of the most widely spoken languages in the sports world today.

Speaking to ONE Championship this week, Malykhin’s wife Anita explained:

“We gain more friends, including foreigners. Of course, our English skills are lacking now. But wanting to be closer to the ONE family is a great motivation to learn - we need to know English. So, one of the main tasks is to learn the English language.”

The idea that Anatoly Malykhin will be able to exchange a war of words with future opponents in English, has fight fans feeling giddy with excitement. His broken English usually gets across with one word utterances, and even then, he’s hilarious, especially when he mocks ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar.

This week, the two-division world champion returns to action at ONE Friday Fights 22 in an attempt to become the undisputed ONE heavyweight world champion.

Arjan Bhullar currently holds the title as the reigning heavyweight king, but it’s been two years since he last fought. He put the stacked division on hold for a long time due to a combination of contract disputes and physical injuries. Bhullar, will therefore be in his first attempt at defending the coveted world title.

For Malykhin, this fight is just business as usual. He looks forward to beating another world champion in front of a large global audience.

Watch Arjan Bhullar vs. Anatoly Malykhin and all ONE Friday Fight events live at 8:30 am EDT on ONE Championship’s YouTube channel.