Anatoly Malykhin surprised with Arjan Bhullar’s durability: “He turned out to be a tough fighter”

Anatoly Malykhin is used to seeing his opponents go out in the first round. That’s why he was surprised to see his rival Arjan Bhullar make it past the second in their world title unification bout.

The two titans clashed this past week at ONE Friday Fights 22, with Malykhin walking out of the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium with the ONE undisputed heavyweight world title in tow.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Malykhin was surprised that Bhullar was able to survive his early onslaught and reach the third round of their highly anticipated showdown.

“I must give him some credit. He turned out to be a tough fighter and a tough guy. I just couldn’t beat him in the first round.”

The victory was his fifth in as many matches in ONE Championship, but it was only the second time it made it past the first round.

Malykhin was on fire from the opening bell and quickly set the tone against Bhullar with his constant pressure. The Russian knockout machine had ‘Singh’ pinned in the corner by the first two minutes and even taunted him in the final 10 seconds of the first round.

Things looked eerily similar in the second, with Malykhin on the attack and Bhullar doing his best to guard or absorb the shots that came his way.

If Bhullar’s game plan was to wait for Malykhin to tire out, that scheme led to absolutely nothing. ‘Sladkiy’ was still firing on all cylinders in the third while Bhullar looked as helpless as ever.

Malykhin was utterly dominant in the match, and his ground-and-pound barrage forced the referee to stop the contest 2:42 into the third.

The win officially made Malykhin the undisputed world champion in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.