Anatoly Malykhin glad he “could continue beating” Arjan Bhullar past the first round

While some fighters are perfectly happy to have the quickest win possible, Anatoly Malykhin was absolutely ecstatic when his world title unification bout against Arjan Bhullar lasted till the third round.

The two titans clashed at ONE Friday Fights 22, with Malykhin taking the ONE undisputed heavyweight world title via third-round technical knockout.

Their world title bout was built on the back of more than a year’s anticipation, and Malykhin was thrilled that he got to lay it on Bhullar for more than 10 minutes.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Malykhin said:

“I’m glad he made it to the middle of the third round, that I could continue beating him for longer. I’m glad he didn’t go down immediately.”

Malykhin, who’s established a terrifying reputation as a devastating knockout striker, got to work early in the first round and tagged Bhullar with massive shots to the body.

Things looked similar in the second, with ‘Sladkiy’ continuing to push the pace as Bhular tried to either guard or absorb the shots that came his way.

If Bhullar’s game plan was to tire Malykhin out, that scheme led to absolutely nothing. Sensing that the Indian star was on the brink of defeat, Malykhin took the fight to the ground and finished his rival with heavy shots from top position.

The dominant win pushed Malykhin to rarified air as he now possesses both undisputed world titles at light heavyweight and heavyweight.

Malykhin is also 5-0 in ONE Championship and 13-0 overall, with all wins coming by way of either knockout or submission.