Anatoly Malykhin

Anatoly Malykhin profile

Anatoly Malykhin is the first fighter in MMA history to hold three world championships at the same time. The Russian, born in Kemerovo on 11 January 1988, retired in May 2026 at 15-1 after regaining the ONE heavyweight title at Lumpinee Stadium.

Wrestling first

Malykhin started wrestling in primary school, earned Master of Sport in freestyle wrestling, took bronze at 120 kg at the 2013 Russian championships and gold at the 2016 European grappling championships at over 100 kg.

He went 4-0 as an amateur and won the 2017 WMMAA world title at over 93 kg before turning professional on the Russian regional circuit, where he finished nearly every opponent.

Three belts in three years

He debuted for ONE on 5 March 2021 with a first-round TKO of Alexandre Machado, knocked out Amir Aliakbari inside a round that September, and took the interim heavyweight title by stopping Kirill Grishenko in February 2022.

In December 2022 he knocked out Reinier de Ridder in the first round for the light heavyweight belt, unified the heavyweight titles against Arjan Bhullar in Bangkok in June 2023, and beat de Ridder again on 1 March 2024 at ONE 166 to take the middleweight belt and make history.

The only fight he lost

On 9 November 2024 at ONE 169 he lost the heavyweight title to Senegal's Oumar Kane by split decision, the first defeat of his career and the first time one of his ONE fights reached the judges.

He answered it on 15 May 2026 in the main event at Lumpinee Stadium, knocking Kane out in the fourth round to take the belt back.

Retiring as champion

He announced his retirement immediately after that win, at 38, and vacated all three belts, leaving the sport without ever losing a title in the ring.

On 5 September 2026 he returned to freestyle wrestling at Real American Freestyle in Moscow, losing 10-3 to Pouya Rahmani.

Record

Scope: Professional MMA · last verified 25 September 2026