Anatoly Malykhin envisions leaving Lumpinee Stadium as undisputed heavyweight king

Coming into ONE Friday Fights 22, Anatoly Malykhin has got one thing on his mind, and that's leaving as the undisputed ONE heavyweight world champion.

The undefeated Russian has had to wait a long time to finally get the chance to solidify his place as the number one heavyweight in the division.

Since defeating Brandon Vera over two years ago to become the world champion, Arjan Bhullar has been inactive. Malykhin, on the hand, fought his way to becoming the heavyweight interim titleholder.

Whilst the two have been scheduled to face one another several times, the fight has never materialized in the flesh. But on June 23 at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, the time for talking is over.

As the interim heavyweight champ and light heavyweight titleholder, Malykhin will look to erase Bhullar’s title reign and establish his run in the promotion as one of the greatest of all time.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Anatoly Malykhin spoke about his mindset going into the biggest fight of his career to date and what he envisions taking place:

“So, in a week, there will be a new world champion - Anatoly Malykhin, let's go. On Friday, we will hear: New world champion Anatoly Malykhin. And NEWWWWWWWW!!!!! Let's go!”

With Bhullar having so many questions to answer after being away for such a long time and going through so many injury setbacks, his opponent comes into this fight with skyrocketing confidence due to his recent run.

ONE Friday Fights 22 will be available live and free via ONE Championship’s YouTube page on June 23.