Anatoly Malykhin plans on making massive weight cut to make middleweight limit

Anatoly Malykhin is already making plans for a massive weight cut in hopes of challenging for a third ONE world title.

‘Sladkiy’ scored the biggest win of his career at ONE Friday Fights 22, finishing Arjan Bhullar to become the undisputed ONE heavyweight world champion. With the ONE light heavyweight title also strapped firmly around his waist, the Russian juggernaut is setting his sights on yet another belt.

This time, Anatoly Malykhin is gunning for the ONE middleweight world championship, currently held by a man he has already shared the circle with once before, Reinier de Ridder.

Following his win over Arjan Bhullar, Malykhin called for an October clash with ‘The Dutch Knight’ in hopes of taking de Ridder’s middleweight crown and etching his name in the history books as MMA’s first-ever three-division champion:

“I already have a planned diet [for middleweight], and I don’t eat too much sweets. Nah, I’m just joking,” Malykhin told the South China Morning Post following his ONE Friday Fights 22 victory.

Watch the full interview below:

Anatoly Malykin and Reinier de Ridder closed out ONE Championship’s 2023 with a ONE light heavyweight world title fight at ONE on Prime Video 5. It was a classic case of striker vs. grappler, leaving fans split between the two finishers. In the end, it took less than a round to get our answer as ‘Sladkiy’ was able to fend off the takedown attempts of de Ridder and finished ‘The Dutch Knight’ on his feet in spectacular fashion.

Do you want to see Anatoly Malykhin and Reinier de Ridder run it back at middleweight later this year?

If you missed any of the action, the ONE Friday Fights 22 replay can be watched anytime via ONE Championship’s YouTube channel.