“He is a very tough guy” - Anatoly Malykhin on working with Vitaly Bigdash for ONE 159

Vitaly Bigdash is preparing with ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin just days away from one of the biggest fights of his mixed martial arts career. At ONE 159, he meets undefeated two-division world champion Reinier de Ridder for the ONE middleweight world title.

Bigdash, a former middleweight titleholder himself, is looking to reclaim gold more than five years after losing the belt to rival Aung La N Sang.

To prepare for his showdown with ‘The Dutch Knight’ on July 22, Bigdash traveled to Phuket, Thailand to train at Tiger Muay Thai where Malykhin is helping him out.

While speaking to ONE Championship, Malykhin discussed his training with Bigdash and shared his observations:

“Vitaly came to us to Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand to finish his preparation for the fight with De Ridder. I personally work with him daily. He is a very tough guy. He has good wrestling. He is very fast with very powerful and fast strikes.”

Bigdash said in his interview with ONE that reclaiming ONE gold by defeating De Ridder will be the peak of his mixed martial arts career:

“It will be the new step in my career I’ve long been longing for. It will be the peak of my MMA career. Taking the belt of the best league in the world is the dream of every MMA fighter.

Watch Bigdash's trilogy fight with Aung La N Sang below:

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Anatoly Malykhin prepares for his own world title showdown against Arjan Bhullar

It’s just a matter of time before Anatoly Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar square off to unify the ONE heavyweight world title. Malykhin is the holder of the promotion’s interim belt following a win over Kirill Grishenko at ONE: Bad Blood in February.

Since his world title-winning performance, Malykhin has been very vocal about his desire to face reigning heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar. Often mocking the Canadian-born heavyweight on social media, ‘Spartak’ called ‘Singh’ a chicken while speaking to ONE Championship:

“I think [Arjan Bhullar] peed himself. He probably peed himself when he was watching my fight and when he was watching my first fight, too. He’s a chicken. My baby. I can knock him out anytime. He’s not the champion, I’m the champion. He’s the fake champion!”

Anatoly Malykhin took it a step further on Instagram when he posted an image of an animated chicken with Bhullar’s head attached, with the caption, “A lying chicken clamped into a corner will soon become a chop.”