“I Won With One Leg” – Anatoly Malykhin Revealed He Had Walked Into the Arjan Bhullar Bout With a “Pinched Nerve” and Still Managed to Win

Anatoly Malykhin produced a one-sided beat down on Arjan Bhullar this past weekend, and he is as confident as ever despite having to go to hospital directly following the win. “Sladkiy” unified the ONE Heavyweight World Championship by defeating the Indian-Candian titleholder with a third-round TKO at ONE Friday Fights 22 on June 23. 

Bhullar appeared to have little to no offense in the contest, so it was surprising to see the newly minted undisputed heavyweight king in a wheelchair riding an ambulance after the event.

Anatoly Malykhin revealed that he actually had a one-legged victory against Arjan Bhullar

A day after the show, the Russian juggernaut revealed that he had a couple of X-rays and a medical check-up for a pre-existing condition, but he assured fans that he was healthy and in good spirits, apart from sporting a visible bruise under his right eye. 

“A month before the fight, I already have a pinched nerve. During the fight, it was disturbing me a little bit again,” Malykhin revealed in an interview with SCMP MMA. “I won with one leg. If my leg was better, that guy shouldn’t have survived until the third round. It will have already been finished in the first round. But I promised he won’t be alive by the third round.”

The two-division ONE World Champion was pushed to the longest fight in his career at Friday’s event, as Bhullar proved more durable than expected, absorbing countless shots to the head and body like it was nothing. But in the third round, Malykhin dragged his rival to the ground and rained down an insane amount of punishment, forcing the referee to step in and end proceedings midway through the third frame.

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After being officially declared the winner, Malykhin raised his opponent’s hand, which appeared to finally quash their longstanding beef. However, he quickly pointed out that there is nothing more to it than sportsmanship and warned that he would not hesitate to silence Bhullar further if he were to pick a fight with him again.

Anatoly Malykhin had no problems with a rematch against Arjan Bhullar but had other plans

“He will never be my friend. But in our fight, I already expressed all my anger to him. If he will be nosy one more time, I’ll smash him,” said “Sladkiy.” Having unified the heavyweight crown, Malykhin is now setting his sights on making history by moving all the way down to middleweight and attempting to take Reinier de Ridder’s remaining World Title.

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That said, he may be busy defending his newly acquired gold, as ONE’s heavyweight division has a couple of contenders on the rise who would love to take a shot at the newly crowned king.