According to the Russian fighter, he is willing to consider the UFC’s offer if it comes through his current employer, Chatri Sityodtong, who approves it.
“If there is any offer to me through his head, I will not accept it,” Malykhin said in the interview Vadim Tikhomirov. “If this offer is right for him, of course we will meet, discuss, and make some decision. But I still see my life and my work with Mr. Chatri. ONE is not just a promotion to me – ONE is like a family to me.”
In March of this year, 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 encounter.
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.
The Russian plans to fight next in the United States, however, the name of his opponent and weight class remain unknown.