ONE 166: Anatoly Malykhin pegs ‘smarter’ Arjan Bhullar to beat ‘one round fighter’ Amir Aliakbari

Two-division king Anatoly Malykhin has his full focus locked on Reinier de Ridder in Qatar, but that does not mean the undefeated Russian tormentor won’t have his eyes on a key heavyweight MMA fixture that gets underway earlier in the night.

‘Sladkiy’ attempts to be MMA’s first world champion across three weight classes when he drops to middleweight to challenge ‘The Dutch Knight’ for his crown in the main event of ONE 166: Qatar inside the Lusail Sports Arena on March 1.

Before he throws down with the Dutchman for the middleweight MMA world title, Anatoly Malykhin will keep his eyes peeled on the contest between Amir Aliakbari and Arjan Bhullar, which has world title implications written all over it.

Both men have been vying for a chance to avenge their previous losses to the Golden Team representative, and a win could do them a huge favor to position them as a favorite for the Russian’s next assignment in heavyweight.

Looking at this three-round slugfest, Anatoly Malykhin senses one clear favorite. He told ONE Championship:

“I think Arjan will win. He is the smarter fighter. Amir on the other hand is a one round fighter; Amir is very dangerous in the first round. He can take you down, he can hit hard, but from the second round on, Amir runs out of energy quickly, which he can't handle mentally.”

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Relive Anatoly Malykhin’s victories over Bhullar and Aliakbari

This prediction doesn’t come as much of a surprise, though, since Bhullar was the only fighter to take him into the third round when they locked horns at ONE Friday Fights 22 in June last year.

Although ‘Singh’ was largely outclassed throughout the tie, the American Kickboxing Academy athlete did well to hang on until ‘Sladkiy’ ended proceedings via TKO at 2:42 of round three.

It was a far easier night for Anatoly Malykhin when he went toe-to-toe with Aliakbari in his sophomore outing at ONE: Revolution in September 2021.

The two-division king and the Iranian bruiser traded heavy leather from the get-go, but a right hand and a left hook left Aliakbari flattened at just 2:57 of round one in Singapore.

All three athletes will return to action when ONE Championship debuts in Qatar with ONE 166. North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can catch the entire card live and for free.