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The top heavyweight competing in Asia's leading martial arts promotion plans to prove his superiority over the rest of the pack by facing and defeating PFL champion Francis Ngannou next year.
Having not competed in MMA since January 2022, Ngannou made his highly anticipated return to the sport in which he made his name last month following a two-fight stint in the boxing ring.
Debuting for the PFL, "The Predator" headlined a pay-per-view event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia opposite Brazil's Renan Ferreira. While the 2023 PFL heavyweight title winner was expected to pose a threat by many, he was battered en route to a knockout defeat within the first round.
The result saw Ngannou crowned the inaugural PFL Super Fight heavyweight champ, and he subsequently reaffirmed his belief that no heavyweight comes close to matching him.
Unsurprisingly, the uber-confident Anatoly Malykhin has something to say about that.
During a recent interview with MMA Knockout, the three-division ONE Championship king reiterated his desire to do battle with another of the planet's most devastating heavyweight knockout artists.
And the Russian's fire for that fight appears to have been flamed by "The Predator's" claim to global supremacy in the division following his successful return to the cage last month in the Middle East.
2025, for me, is a year when a really big fight should happen, that’s what I want. Because Ngannou, Francis Ngannou, recently said that he’s the best fighter on the planet, which he cannot and should not be saying until he faces me," Malykhin said. "So my fight against Ngannou is something that needs to happen in 2025. I think everybody looks forward to that, everybody wants that fight, and we need to have it to decide once and for all who is the best heavyweight in the world right now.
And beyond himself, "Sladkiy" sees plenty of threats to Ngannou from Russian brutes already under the PFL banner, naming 2024 PFL heavyweight finalist Oleg Popov and former Bellator champion Vadim Nemkov.
Francis Ngannou is a strong fighter. I watched his fight (with Ferreira), he’s got a great skillset," Malykhin stated. "He has got some great opposition in PFL. That’s Oleg Popov, who’s definitely gonna win the (heavyweight tournament). Everybody needs to keep his eyes on Popov, this guy is going to be absolutely amazing. I can see great things coming for him. And of course there is Vadim Nemkov, who is another amazing Russian fighter.
As for Ngannou, I think that it was more of a psychological pressure for him to come back into the ring after such a long break from MMA. But I think he did well, he did well," Malykhin continued. "But his words after the fight, I think were a little bit premature. He shouldn’t have said that he is the greatest heavyweight in the world.
For now, Malykhin's sights are on a different African heavyweight behemoth — one currently competing alongside him in ONE.
The heavyweight, light heavyweight, and middleweight champ will put the first of those titles on the line against Senagalese powerhouse Oumar "Reug Reug" Kane tomorrow night at ONE 169.
The build-up to their showdown at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand has been a heated one, with the pair almost coming to blows at the hotel and press conference faceoff during fight week.