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Reigning ONE heavyweight and light heavyweight world champion, Anatoly Malykhin says it will be no problem to face surging Iranian sensation Amir Aliakbari again in the future.
After all, the hard-hitting Russian already knocked Aliakbari out once in 2021, when they were merely rising stars in ONE Championship.
‘Sladkiy’ needed less than a round to finish Aliakbari just shy of three minutes into the opening frame. If and when they meet again in the Circle, Malykhin is confident he can get the job done even quicker.
Malykhin, who attended the recently concluded ONE Fight Night 12: Superlek vs. Khalilov in Bangkok, Thailand last weekend, spoke to reporters in scrum interviews. There, the Russian fighter talked about how he would finish Aliakbari again if they fought.
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The 35-year-old said:
“After two or three of my punches, he'll just go to sleep.”
Malykhin has proven to be a more than capable finisher throughout his career. Out of 13 victories, he has finished every single one of his opponents, most in the first round.
His latest conquest, which came against former heavyweight king Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22, was his most impressive yet. He took out a highly regarded opponent to unify the heavyweight world titles.
Aliakbari, meanwhile, has won his last three in ONE Championship since dropping his first two for the promotion. The Iranian has posted technical knockouts over Mauro Cerilli, Brandon Vera, and most recently, Dustin Joynson. He has looked absolutely phenomenal as of late.
Because of this, talks of a rematch between Aliakbari and Malykhin have been heating up. The two came to blows in the ring at ONE Fight Night 12, getting into an intense scuffle that had to be broken up by veteran broadcaster Mitch Chilson and referee Herb Dean.
Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all of the action at ONE Fight Night 12, including this crazy sequence, via replay on Amazon Prime Video.
