Aung La N Sang names the two athletes he thinks stood out the most this year in ONE Championship

Aung La N Sang had huge words of praise for both Fabricio Andrade and Anatoly Malykhin.

One of the most recognizable fighters to ever compete in ONE Championship, Aung La produced a run that saw him become the promotion's second-ever double champion.

Now, ‘The Burmese Python’ is approaching the final chapters of his career.

In a recent interview with ONE Championship, Aung La spoke about the two fighters who have impressed him the most this past year and could potentially take his place as one of Asia’s biggest stars.

He said:

“This year was the year for [Malykhin] and Fabricio Andrade, for sure. The next couple of years, they’re going to keep doing their thing. Both of them are fairly young... I think [Andrade] is one of those guys that you should look at long-term. He could probably fight for the next 10 years. He’s going to be a superstar... For a heavyweight, Anatoly is super young. He could fight for the next 10 years too. I’m excited for them.”

Whilst Fabricio Andrade may have just missed out on becoming a world champion this year, he proved he has the skills to do it. For Anatoly Malykhin, it’s been a great year, which saw him become a double champion and remain undefeated.

---

Aung La N Sang expects continuous rise for Anatoly Malykhin

Both Aung La N Sang and Anatoly Malykhin have achieved an incredibly rare feat in their careers. Whilst competing under the ONE Championship banner, they have become double champions at different stages in their careers.

Whilst Aung La became just the second-ever competitor to achieve this status in ONE, Malykhin is the most recent to secure his place in the exclusive club.

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 how impressed he has been with Malykhin since first watching him and then seeing him go on to become a simultaneous multi-weight world champion:

“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 N Sang reigned as ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion, defending his titles on four occasions before losing consecutive fights to Reinier de Ridder.