ONE Championship’s Anatoliy Malykhin is the most dominant MMA star in the business right now. As the promotions heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight world champion, the Russian wrestler is the first fighter to ever win three major titles in three weight classes and to hold them all at the same time. Malykhin is now looking to increase his spotless record of 14 wins (10 by knockout) when he defends the heavyweight title against “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane (6-1-0) at ONE 169.
And, while both men come from a wrestling background, Malykhin tells M&F that his training methods are completely different.
For those wondering what kind of a person Malykhin is like outside of the cage, it should be noted that despite the huge constrains on his time, the champ was incredibly thoughtful with his answers, albeit past 10pm in his local time. “Well, it doesn’t matter what time it is. We’re not limited by time, we’re gonna rock this interview, no matter what,” he reassured me through a trusted interpreter.
And “rock it” he certainly did. Malykhin is just days out from an extremely important title defense, but the wrestling star who’s accolades include bronze in the 2013 Russian championship for freestyle and gold for submission grappling in the 2016 UWW European championships, knows what it takes to succeed, and that means giving his all in any situation. His drive to push past his limits is undoubtedly one of the reasons that he prefers old school styles of training.
Anatoliy Malykhin chooses freestyle wrestling training over technological gadgets
In a recent Instagram video, the champ laid down while his wife dropped a coconut onto his abs, from a series of increasing heights, until she was all the way up to the roof. “Coconut-proof!” joked the MMA star. But while the clip may have been amusing to some, it was the perfect illustration of how Malykhin has turned to nature rather than technology in order to push through his limitations.
“There are two types of fighters,” says Malykhin. “One is sort of a fitness model fighter like Reug Reug. But, some others are made of steel, who are strong, and there’s a big difference between these two categories.”
Malykhin believes that leaning too much on technology could have its disadvantages. “All of this new stuff, I’m very suspicious of it,” he shares. “I see these guys. They have so many monitors all over them to measure your max, their heartbeat, and if their heartbeat just goes above 150 bpm, they stop, they stop training. They have to slow down. I’ve seen many guys who couldn’t progress because of that, because they started to train well, too scientifically, too safe, and they didn’t progress.
He adds: “I know how to listen to my body. I continue training like we were taught in freestyle wrestling: Old school training, you train basically until you can’t train anymore. You train until the very last stop until you have no more wins, and you are fully immersed in training. I listen to my body, and I know when to stop, but until that point is reached I keep going. There is something very primal about it. You trust yourself, and you trust your body, and you keep challenging yourself, and it’s just you against yourself, exactly like when you are in the ring. You’re there and you have an opponent, but you’re also facing yourself. You can’t delegate this fight. You can’t delegate it to gadgets.”
Certainly, when it comes to his training, Anatoliy Malykhin is more Rocky than Ivan Drago. The first part of his training camp for this title defense was held in the Altai Mountain region in Russia. He ran up those hills and mountains, and practiced holding his breath in the local streams. His coach, Johnny Hutchinson, struck him with sticks to build his tolerance for pain.
Champions are athletes that are willing to evolve
Despite his proclivity for old-school training, Malykhin is not afraid to try newer methods that make sense to him. In fact, he is a big proponent of using resistance bands. The champ tells M&F that by chopping down so many opponents who had much larger muscles, he realized that muscle volume and strength are two different things. “I spoke to some other wrestlers, and they told me ‘you must train with resistance bands,’” he explains. “That’s what will give you real strength and hands like iron. I noticed the progress immediately, because strength and stamina is not dictated by the volume of the muscle.”
Most champions have a large target on their back, but Malykhin has three. To that end, he’s been thinking carefully about how to continue to give the best possible accounting for himself and his fans. “
I’m thinking that I should probably vacate the middleweight belt quite soon,” he reveals to M&F. “Making weight at 93 kilograms was the hardest out of all the competitions, so probably it’s better to vacate the belt.”
It’s a situation that he will continue to give some serious consideration too. For now, however, this piece of Siberian steel says that he’s not just coconut-proof, but bullet-proof as well. Malykhin is loving being a part of ONE Championship, and feels a responsibility to be a great ambassador for the organisation too. Not only does Malykhin train to win, but he says that he is always motivated to give his fans the most entertaining fight possible. “Always, when I’m going in into the ring, I want to give fireworks,” says Malykhin. “I want sparks to fly.”
Anatoly Malykhin will defend his Heavyweight World Title against “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane at ONE 169 this Friday, November 8 broadcast live on Prime Video beginning at 8pm ET.
Follow Anatoliy Malykhin on Instagram: @anmalykhin