Malykhin announced this on social media, addressing the Asian league’s management.
“ONE Championship, further 84 kg?”, – wrote the Russian.
Malykhin also addressed his coach John Hutchinson.
“Hey Jonny, it’s time for a fourth belt, bro!” the ONE Triple Crown Champion said in a published video.
The current reigning ONE Championship middleweight champion is Canada’s Christian Lee, who also holds the ONE lightweight title. The Canadian fighter is riding a two-fight win streak, having finished Rai Yoon Ok and Kamran Abbasov by technical knockout, but has not stepped into the cage since November 2022.
On March 1, at ONE 166 in Qatar, Anatoly Malykhin took the ONE middleweight belt from Rainier de Ridder and became the first triple champion in mixed martial arts history. The title fight ended in the third round after the battered Dutchman refused to get up from the parterre and continue the meeting.
In December 2022, Malykhin stripped de Ridder of the ONE heavyweight title by winning the fight by first-round technical knockout, and last June, the Russian successfully unified the current and interim ONE heavyweight titles by finishing Arjan Bullard by third-round technical knockout.