ONE Championship: Anatoly Malykhin wins interim heavyweight title – and two US$50,000 bonuses – with stunning KO of Kirill Grishenko at Bad Blood
- Undefeated Russian now sets his sights on divisional heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar
- ‘I am the real champ … Arjan Bhullar, my baby chicken, come fight,” Malykhin says
Anatoly Malykhin is now a ONE Championship title-holder – and US$100,000 richer.
The 34-year-old Russian returned to action in the main event of ONE: Bad Blood on Friday in Singapore, where he took on towering Belarusian Kirill Grishenko with the promotion’s interim heavyweight title on the line.
He won the fight with a vicious, second-round knockout. The performance was so impressive that he became the first fighter in ONE Championship history to receive two US$50,000 bonuses for a single fight.
“Mr Chatri, thank you,” Malykhin said through his translator in a post-fight interview with commentator Mitch Chilson, expressing gratitude to ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong for the double bonus.
“I would like to thank my father, my mother, my wife, my son – they’re all watching me today – and my club, Tiger [Muay Thai].”
Malykhin pressed the action early, winging massive hooks at his Belarusian foe and scoring with a takedown in the first round. Grishenko was savvy enough to survive the opening frame, but was not so lucky in the second, when he was cut down by a thunderous right hook.
