Chatri Sityodtong sees Arjan Bhullar-Anatoly Malykhin match ending in a KO

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong expects nothing but a world-ending knockout when heavyweight titans Arjan Bhullar and Anatoly Malykhin square off at ONE Friday Fights 22.

Bhullar, who holds the ONE heavyweight world title, and Malykhin, the ONE light heavyweight and interim heavyweight world champion, will battle for the right to be called the undisputed ONE heavyweight world champion on June 23.

In an interview with South China Morning Post following the end of ONE Fight Night 11, Sityodtong said he expects Bhullar and Malykhin to get into a striking match befitting of the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

Sityodtong said:

“I don't see how Anatoly vs. Arjan is going to go the distance. These are two heavyweights. They both have very complementary skill sets, in the sense that they're both outstanding wrestlers. And they both love to box. So I think usually when you have two high-level wrestlers, it ends up being a striking war. And so somebody's going to sleep.”

Both Malykhin and Bhullar have big knockout power on their hands but the two fighters began their martial arts journey on a wrestling base. Nevertheless, these two have become premier knockout artists when they arrived on the global stage.

Bhullar captured the heavyweight throne when he knocked out Brandon Vera for the belt in May 2021.

Malykhin, meanwhile, marauded his way to two world titles in unstoppable fashion.

‘Sladkiy’ became the ONE interim heavyweight world champion when he knocked out Kirill Grishenko in February 2022. The Russian juggernaut then added the ONE light heavyweight world title to his collection when he bludgeoned Reinier de Ridder in December of that year.

Watch Sityodtong's entire interview below: