“He’s a good guy”- Anatoly Malykhin open to facing BJJ legend ‘Buchecha’ after beating Kirill Grishenko 

Anatoly Malykhin is full of confidence heading into his next fight against Kirill Grishenko. The two heavyweights meet for the ONE interim heavyweight world title at ONE: Bad Blood this Friday, February 11th at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

After beating Grishenko and claiming the belt, however, Malykhin looks forward to a handful of challenges in ONE Championship’s burgeoning heavyweight division. One man he’s open to facing is Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Malykhin shared his thoughts on the grappling superstar and how it would be a good test for him. He also said his wrestling would hold up quite well against Buchecha’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).

Anatoly Malykhin said:

“Yeah, definitely. I like to know, accept and fight with the best, with the skilled fighters. I always tried to call them out, you know, in our division, and he [Buchecha] is a good kind of guy. He's a good guy, but my friends are saying, ‘Hey this guy is like the best jiu-jitsu guy. He is the strongest.’ But you know, he hasn't seen my wrestling. I've been having, you know, 1000 fights in wrestling and I'm a European champion in grappling. So as a fighter I'm way stronger than him but first Kirill and then we will see if we can go with Buchecha.”

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Anatoly Malykhin vs. Kirill Grishenko for the ONE interim heavyweight world title

‘Sladkiy’ has his hands full this Friday night. The unbeaten Russian will try to keep his record perfect against Grishenko, a dangerous 30-year-old from Belarus who also boasts of being untouched in the cage.

Anatoly Malykhin is aware of the threats Grishenko possesses, and is taking this fight very seriously. But Malykhin says he simply believes he’s the best heavyweight in the world, and that Grishenko doesn’t stand a chance.

“Yeah, absolutely. Kirill is currently the strongest fighter that I’m going to fight. And He can take a lot of hits. And other fighters denied but Kirill agreed to fight me. So big, big respect to him. And about me, I put myself in the same line as the best fighters in the world. You know, I’m the fastest, and my functionality, you know. Training has been advanced and you know, I have the best of wrestling and now I have the best of boxing and Thai boxing that I’m trying to improve as well. So again, I believe that I'm the one row with the best fighters in the world.”

If Malykhin defeats Grishenko, he becomes the champ. And although he wants reigning ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar next, ‘Sladkiy’ says he’ll be the one calling the shots.