Anatoly Malykhin entertains idea of potential transition to wrestling after MMA career

Two-weight ONE MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin has had an undeniable rise to the top of ONE Championship. Through his knockout power and verbal skills on the microphone, he’s proven to have both the gift of the gab and the gift of the jab. So he believes he could succeed in a future transition to pro wrestling.

His punching power has led him to victory 14 times in his career. Seven of those have come in ONE where he became the first-ever three-weight king in the promotion’s history. He stormed through former ONE World Title challenger Kirill Grishenko and former heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar at ONE Friday Fights 22 in June 2023.

Not only that, but he became the only man to defeat former two-weight ONE World Champion Reinier de Ridder. First at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December 2022 with a first-round knockout for the light-heavyweight MMA crown. Then at ONE 166 in Qatar to earn the middleweight gold, too.

He’s also no stranger to talking trash. Malykhin thrives when the stakes are the highest. He’s used the press conferences to get inside his opponents’ minds, using verbal jabs to poke holes in their armor.

That was on show in the lead-up to his heavyweight MMA clash with reigning heavyweight MMA champ “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane last November at ONE 169. And also being a heavyweight juggernaut, he ticks all the boxes to be a larger-than-life personality.

So when questioned about how he’d fare in wrestling, Malykhin is confident he could follow in the footsteps of fellow heavyweight Brock Lesnar.

“No, I haven’t thought about it. But I think I’d do alright. I’ve got a solid grappling base, I move well for a heavyweight, and I think I’ve got a bit of acting in me too,” he said.

“If they invited me — sure, I’d give it a shot. It’d be an interesting experience.”

Anatoly Malykhin opens up on admiration for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Two-division ONE MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin knows the meaning of hard work. It’s allowed him to reach the top of the heavyweight MMA world. So when asked which other professional athletes and world-renowned stars he respects, he had a few names in mind.

One of those is WWE and Hollywood megastar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Malykhin grew up in the 1990s as a huge fan of the WWE and the pro wrestling icon. But while his interest in sports entertainment may have waned as he grew older, he continues to be in awe of “The Rock” many years later.

“I don’t follow wrestling these days. But I watched it as a kid — back when it was Goldberg, CM Punk. I used to root for Goldberg and Sting. I remember how we’d all sit around the TV as a family. Bam Bam Bigelow was around back then too,” he said, reflecting on his childhood.

“But The Rock? That guy’s a legend. He is a self-made man — from a pro wrestler to a top-tier actor. He’s living proof that with hard work, you can achieve anything.”