“This time I'll drop you even faster” - Anatoly Malykhin sends ominous message to Amir Aliakbari

As ONE Championship’s interim heavyweight world champion, Anatoly Malykhin is used to getting called out. Most recently, the Russian star was addressed by former opponent Amir Aliakbari. The Iranian heavyweight competed against Mauro Cerilli at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 26.

After suffering back-to-back losses, the last of which came against Malykhin, Aliakbari got back on the winning track with an excellent second-round knockout win over his Italian foe. Following the victory, the former UWW Grecco-Roman Wrestling World Champion called out ‘Sladkiy’, saying, “Malykhin, are you ready? I’m coming!”

The message was heard loud and clear by Anatoly Malykhin, who responded in a post on Instagram. His comments to Aliakbari were accompanied by a video reminding the Iranian of what happened the last time the two heavyweight behemoths clashed.

“Everything is clear with you @amiraliakbari60 But if you want to repeat, know, this time I'll drop you even faster👊🏻”

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Who will be next for Anatoly Malykhin with Ajran Bhullar out of their previously announced ONE 161 showdown?

After months of back and forth between Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar, it appeared the two heavyweight world champions were finally set to unify their belts in a highly-anticipated clash at ONE 161. Unfortunately, the fight experienced yet another delay when Bhullar was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Now the question is, who will Malykhin face next? He could wait for Bhullar to recover, but with Marcus Almeida’s impressive showing at ONE on Prime Video 1 over Kirill Grishenko, there are options. While Almeida could present an intriguing matchup, there is also the possibility of Malykhin facing current two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder.

With an undefeated record of 16-0 and holding both the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles, ‘The Dutch Knight’ has expressed interest in adding a third belt to his collection. Thus, a matchup between de Ridder and Malykhin is not outside the realm of possibility.

Marketing that fight would be fairly easy as both fighters are undefeated. The potential of Reinier de Ridder simultaneously holding three world titles in three different divisions under the same organization would be unprecedented. There is no doubt that fans would tune in to witness history should ONE Championship give ‘The Dutch Knight’ a crack at becoming its first three-division world champion.