ONE Championship: Buchecha expects Anatoly Malykhin will have ‘good advantage’ in Arjan Bhullar title fight
- Marcus Buchecha thinks inactivity could be a problem for heavyweight champ Bhullar, who is expected to fight interim champ Malykhin soon
- But BJJ star believes anything can happen in the match-up because both have ‘fast hands and great wrestling’
ONE Championship heavyweight contender Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida believes Anatoly Malykhin will have the upper hand against Arjan Bhullar when the pair collide for the promotion’s heavyweight title.
Russia’s Malykhin is ONE’s interim heavyweight champion while the Indo-Canadian Bhullar holds the promotion’s undisputed title. Their title-unifying showdown has not yet been announced, but contracts are allegedly signed.
When it happens, it will be the 36-year-old Bhullar’s first fight since a May 2021 TKO win over Brandon Vera, which started his reign as the champion. Malykhin, meanwhile, has fought twice since then, knocking out Amir Aliakbari in September and Kirill Grishenko in February.
Buchecha believes that could be a factor in the pair’s title fight.
“I think who has the bigger advantage right now is Anatoly because he’s more active,” Buchecha told the Post recently. “The last fight that Arjan fought was against Brandon Vera. That was a while ago.
“He’s got a lot of experience so I don’t know if it will be a problem for him, but in my point of view, I think that’s a good advantage for Anatoly.”
While Buchecha believes Malykhin will have the advantage against Bhullar, he’s not making any predictions for the title fight because “anything can happen”.