Anatoly Malikin currently holds titles in three divisions in ONE Championship, but he continues to work hard to get his name out to more martial arts fans around the world.
The Russian slugger has built a reputation as a ferocious finisher with a perfect 14-0 MMA record. He has never won a decision on his resume and only one of his opponents has lasted two rounds. It's fair to say that Mullikin has overcome every obstacle ONE has thrown at him, but he's open to other challenges, including an interest in a showdown with former UFC champion and current PFL heavyweight Francis Ngannou.
Mullikin has called for a fight with Ngannou in the past and would love to make the bout happen if ONE Championship and the PFL can one day agree on some kind of crossover event. While Mullikin has a lot of respect for Ngannou and what the former UFC champion has accomplished, he believes Ngannou has a good shot at winning the bout after watching him get soundly defeated by Anthony Joshua in a boxing match back in March.
“I want to congratulate Ngannou,” Mullikin told MMA Fighting through a translator. “It wasn't his night, but he made good money. [a lose-lose] It was an evening for him, and he was paid a handsome sum.
“As for our upcoming fight, I would say my strengths are that I have better movement and better body shots than him. If I fight on the stand, I think I will be a big problem for him.”
Mullikin, in particular, had a moment where he knew he could win against Ngannou. He actually predicted the specific punch Joshua would use to knock Ngannou out, which is also his own favorite punch.
“When I was thinking about the Anthony Joshua vs. Ngannou fight, both before and after the fight, the way he knocked him out was my favorite punch,” Mullikin said, “so when I was thinking about how Anthony Joshua was going to knock him out, I could foresee that that was going to happen.”
“As long as Ngnanou doesn't train, I could knock him out too. At the moment it's difficult for Ngnanou to fight a professional boxer in boxing, but it might be interesting to see a mixed martial artist fight in boxing.”
While Malikin would love the opportunity for a crossover bout with Ngannou, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong doesn't seem all that interested, nor has he had any involvement in orchestrating a move to co-promote the event with PFL.
On the contrary, Sitiyodtong has a lot of faith in Malikin as the best heavyweight in MMA and predicts the unbeaten Russian will have an easy night against Ngannou.
“I don't think it's competitive,” Sityodtong told MMA Fighting. “Francis has the power to knock someone out with one punch and he has great striking, but he doesn't have the ground game. [he has] I only do blue belt level Jiu Jitsu and I don't wrestle. Anatoly would beat him in a flash. Frankly, I don't think it's competitive. I'm speaking as a lifelong fighter. I'm trying to be as objective as possible. I've been doing Muay Thai for 40 years and Jiu Jitsu for 15 years. I'm just speaking from personal experience and trying to be objective.
“We all know that wrestling is the only sport where you can decide where you want to compete in different weight classes. If you want to stay on your feet, you stay on your feet. If your opponent wants to knock you down, you knock him down. Especially if you're a world-class wrestler, like Russia's Anatoly Malkin.” [But] We have always been open [to cross promotion]. “
As a primarily Asia-based promotion, ONE Championship continues to fight for a bigger market share in the West, and a fighter like Mullikin could put him on Ngannou's radar.
Mullikin knows he's not the biggest or most bankable fighter in MMA right now, but he has an unshakeable belief he can beat Ngannou in impressive fashion, and he's hopeful that eventually enough people will want the fight to happen.
“Right now, he's a lot more famous than me, but I'm working on it,” Mullikin said of Ngannou. “People are starting to get to know me.”
“My name is being talked about quite a bit now, but when I started MMA I never expected to become so famous. I started about five or six years ago. If I had another year or a year and a half, I would definitely have become famous. [will] Mentioned alongside these people [as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport]. “
