Triple-champ Anatoly Malykhin reveals he’s back at heavyweight realm mere months after conquering middleweight

Anatoly Malykhin is back at work and recently revealed he's back in the heavyweight realm following a sojourn to the lower weight classes.

The three-division MMA world champion last fought at ONE 166 when he forcibly took the ONE middleweight MMA world title from Reinier de Ridder in Qatar.

Three months after he knocked de Ridder out, Malykhin revealed he's back at the heavyweight ranks and looks as formidable as ever.

Malykhin, who holds the ONE middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight MMA world titles, posted an Instagram story that showed he's at 118.1 kilograms or 260.36 pounds.

Sladkiy' has no problems going up and down weight classes and his previous four fights happened at middleweight, heavyweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight.

That short four-fight run saw him go a perfect 4-0 with all four of his wins coming by way of knockout.

It's unclear which of his three world titles Malykhin would defend first, but if his social media presence is to be believed then it might just be the heavyweight MMA throne.

Anatoly Malykhin already has a handful of potential challengers for the ONE heavyweight MMA world title including Amir Aliakbari, Oumar 'Reug Reug' Kane, and Ben Tynan.

Burmese legend Aung La N Sang, a former ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world champion, could also challenge Malykhin and try to reclaim the belts he once possessed.

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Anatoly Malykhin details how he's kept his killer edge

Anatoly Malykhin is one of the hardest-working fighters in mixed martial arts, and a huge reason for that is the undying resolve he continues to fuel up in training.

In an interview with ONE Championship, the triple-champ said fighters typically get burnt out with the constant grind and would even get sick because of it.

Malykhin knows the dangers of burning out, but he's always avoided such circumstances.

He said:

"All fighters possess excellent qualities. They have strength, endurance, and a fighter's spirit. But not all fighters can use these qualities on the day of the fight. A lot of people burn out, they start to get sick."