Aung La N Sang expects continuous rise for Anatoly Malykhin

Aung La N Sang and Anatoly Malykhin are two men who have completed an extremely rare feat in the sport of MMA. Under the ONE Championship banner, both men have been able to achieve double-champion status at some point in their careers.

While Aung La was one of the first fighters to hold world championships in multiple weight classes simultaneously, Malykhin is the most recent.

At ONE on Prime Video 5, the ONE interim heavyweight world champion moved down a weight class to face another two-division world champion, then-undefeated middleweight and light heavyweight titleholder Reinier de Ridder.

Stopping the Dutchman in the opening round, the Russian claimed the light heavyweight world title, which was also previously held by Aung La N Sang.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, ‘The Burmese Python’ spoke about his expectations for the promotion’s newly crowned double champion and his initial thoughts on him as a competitor:

“He is very impressive. When he started off, we thought he was just a wrestler with good boxing. But now we can see he’s well-rounded. He’s a great mixed martial artist and a world champion in two divisions. He’s going to do big things.”

For three years, Aung La reigned as ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion, defending his titles on four occasions before losing consecutive fights to Reinier de Ridder.

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WATCH: Aung La N Sang’s explosive finishes in ONE Championship

Former two-division world champion Aung La N Sang became a fan favorite fighter with his incredible run in ONE Championship. With a record that boasts some incredibly exciting matchups, ‘The Burmese Python’ has been in some of the biggest fights the promotion has ever put together.

Reflecting on his career, ONE uploaded a three-minute compilation of some of his career highlights on their YouTube channel.

Check out the action below:

Through his run so far in ONE Championship, Aung La N Sang has finished his opponent on 11 occasions. Eight of those stoppages have come by way of knockout or TKO and three by submission.

His most recent finish came against Yushin Okami last month in Singapore where he took out the Japanese MMA legend in under two minutes.