Anatoly Malykhin says he meant to finish Arjan Bhullar sooner at ONE Friday Fights 22

It certainly took longer than expected, but Anatoly Malykhin still lived up to his promise and finished Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22 last weekend.

‘Singh’ was the first fighter to make it to the third round against the proven Russian finisher, but still met his demise via some crushing ground and pound.

After successfully unifying the heavyweight belts, Malykhin improved to 13-0 in his MMA career and kept his unreal 100 percent career finishing rate intact.

Despite his brilliant performance, the 35-year-old admitted wanting to put Bhullar away as early as round one.

‘Sladkiy’ told the South China Morning Post’s Nic Atkin:

“It was supposed to be finished already in first round, but I promised nobody will be alive after third round.”

The massive heavyweight tiff was not expected to reach the judges’ scorecards, given the unbridled animosity between these two hulking juggernauts.

Plus, the Golden Team standout has knocked out all four of his circle opponents, including the one-round destruction of Reinier de Ridder to become the light heavyweight world champion last year.

Malykhin, for one, guaranteed a first-round KO after accusing Bhullar of ducking him for so long.

However, the two-division ONE world champion suffered a pinched nerve in his leg prior to the fight.

Malykhin re-aggravated the injury during the match, which may have slowed him down a bit and hindered his ability to take the Indian-Canadian out as quickly as possible.

Still, the undisputed king of the heavyweight division put on a dominating performance, besting Bhullar the entire match before the fight-ending sequence in round three.

Fans can rewatch Malykhin’s bout with Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22 anytime, on ONE Championship’s official YouTube page.

Watch Malykhin's full SCMP MMA interview below: