Anatoliy Malykhin vs Arjan Bhullar Prediction: Expecting a Quick Knockout

On June 23 at ONE Friday Fights 22, the long-awaited fight for the full league title in the heavyweight division will finally happen. Anatoly Malykhin will share the cage with Arjan Bullard. Malykhin holds the "interim" champion belt, and Bhullar is the permanent champ.

Malykhin is an undefeated Russian fighter, originally from freestyle wrestling - he is the champion of Russia. But Anatoliy never comes to the wrestling, knocking out his opponents. Usually, he does it in the first round - only twice did he do it in the second.

Malykhin came to ONE in 2021, beating Alexandre Bebezao and Amir Aliakbari, then took the "temporary" belt from Kirill Grishenko and won the second belt (light-heavyweight) against Reinier de Ridder by knockout in the first round.

That's how Anatoliy became a formidable force in the promotion. While he was a hero here, the reigning champion Arjan Bhullar was studiously avoiding a face-off with him. But the situation came to a deadlock, running was no longer an option, or the league threatened to steal the belt.

Arjan has been hiding, avoiding bouts for two years, and says he's been negotiating some contracts there, some terms. In my opinion, he was hiding from the fights. People see who the real champion is; now it's time to prove it. Arjan has already been out of the bout five or six times. No one is interested in him, and no one wants him. Whenever he says, he'd go to the UFC, PFL - let him go now. I'll put him to bed and send him where he wants.

Anatoliy Malykhin

Bhullar fought in the UFC from 2017 to 2019. He had four bouts against little-known fighters, where he lost only once. Then he moved to ONE. In 2019 Arjan beat Mauro Cerilli by a decision, then disappeared for two years. Then suddenly, for some reason got the right to fight for the belt against Brandon Vera, 45, who has almost nothing left of the top fighter.

Bhullar defeated him by TKO and went underground as Malykhin appeared on the horizon.

There is no doubt that Malykhin is the favorite. He's got many more fantastic skills both in the standing and parterre. He's burning from desire to become a champion; he just felt the blood and taste for wins, while Bullard hasn't performed for a long time. When he did, he wasn't impressive at all. Arjan is stale, and he's never really been a top fighter.

But the most exciting thing is whether Anatoliy will knock out his opponent in the first round as usual. We believe he can. Nothing foretells that Malykhin will change his tactics and be overprotective and cautious. On the contrary, he is raring to go, and he will press Bullard from the very first second as soon as the ref in the cage gives the go-ahead.