“ONE Championship has changed my life” - Anatoly Malykhin says ONE turned him from unheralded gem into a global superstar 

Anatoly Malykhin opened up about how ONE Championship "changed his life."

Malykhin made his ONE Championship debut in March 2021. At the time, the hard-hitting Russian held an undefeated professional MMA record of 8-0, hoping to increase his star power and earn the global respect he deserved.

Since then, Malykhin has established a 6-0 promotional record, all by knockout. The 36-year-old made history along the way by becoming a three-division MMA world champion, a status he solidified in March.

Malykhin recently did an interview with ONE and talked about how the promotion changed his life. He had this to say:

"First of all, ONE Championship has changed my life, and I’m very thankful to ONE Championship - thankful for being a part of this great mechanism, and I hope everything will only get better for them in the future."

Anatoly Malykhin holds the MMA world titles for ONE Championship's heaviest divisions - middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight. 'Sladkiy' knocked out Reinier de Ridder for the lower weight classes and secured a third-round finish against Arjan Bhullar for the heavyweight strap.

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Anatoly Malykhin looks to extend legendary run at ONE 169

On Friday, November 8, ONE Championship will return to the iconic combat sports venue of Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The upcoming spectacle features three world title fights, including Anatoly Malykhin defending his heavyweight MMA strap in the main event.

Malykhin's first heavyweight MMA title defense will be against 'Reug Reug' Oumar Kane. The Senegalese wrestler started his promotional tenure with back-to-back first-round knockout wins before suffering his lone defeat against former ONE interim heavyweight title challenger Kirill Grishenko.

Over the last two years, Kane has climbed the heavyweight ranks by securing consecutive wins against Batradz Gazzaev (second-round knockout), Jasur Mirzamukhamedov (unanimous decision), and Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida (unanimous decision).

'Reug Reug' now looks for the biggest win of his combat sports career against Malykhin. It'll be easier said than done, as 'Sladkiy' has finished every opponent put in his path.

ONE 169: Malykhin vs Reug Reug will air live in US Primetime free of charge for Prime Video subscribers in North America.