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#2. ONE Championship bantamweight world champion John Lineker
You won't get the nickname 'Hands of Stone' for just any reason. John Lineker, the heavy-handed ONE Championship bantamweight world champion, might be the most legit bearer of this monicker aside from its original owner, boxing icon Roberto Duran. You can say that Lineker is the reason why we even thought of this list in the first place.
You just have to watch one of his fights to know what we're talking about. This man hits his opponents so hard that they start questioning their life choices.
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'Hands of Stone' is one of the hardest punchers to have ever fought in the lower weight classes in MMA. The sheer force behind his punches has put most of his opponents to sleep, including the man he snatched the belt from, former ONE Championship bantamweight king Bibiano Fernandes.
What's crazy about Lineker is that he had this power even when he was fighting at 125 pounds. It just doesn't make sense for someone to be that powerful and be that tiny at the same time.
He then increased his power once he moved up to 135 and 145 pounds, the latter being the weight class that he currently rules. In more ways than one, Lineker should be considered one of the pound-for-pound hardest punchers in MMA history, period.
#1. ONE Championship interim heavyweight world champion Anatoliy Malykhin
ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoliy 'Sladkiy' Malykhin is one bad man. The heavyweight champion of the world is considered "The Baddest Man on the Planet" and Malykhin can make the argument that he deserves to be called that. We dare not disagree with him.
If you look at how he absolutely starched then-undefeated Kirill Grishenko back in February, you can tell that Malykhin doesn't need a lot of space to execute a knockout blow. He threw a right cross, missed, then stepped forward to throw a short right hook. The punch connected and immediately sent Grishenko into orbit.
Not only can Malykhin knock you out on the feet, he can also use his wrestling and heavy top pressure to pound your face through the canvas. That's a frightening thought. With 7 out of his 10 wins coming by way of KO, there is no doubt that Anatoliy Malykhin can knock anybody out on the planet.
That's why he's at the top of our list.
