ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong is committed to giving fans the best combat sports matches possible, but he always considers what the fighters want in their careers first. At ONE Friday Fights 22 this past weekend, Anatoly Malykhin unified the ONE Heavyweight World Championship with a three-round destruction of Arjan Bhullar. Following the fight, “Sladkiy” made it known that he wants to challenge for Reinier de Ridder’s middleweight strap next.

“The Dutch Knight” welcomed the callout but said that he wants to fight someone else first – instead of waiting for the Russian heavyweight to drop down to his division.

Chatri Sityodtong had no problems in affirming Anatoly Malykhin’s callout

“I would do it if both of them want to do it. Anatoly is one of those special athletes. He’s 13 and no with a 100% finish rate and nine KOs. He was also undefeated in his amateur MMA career,” Sityodtong told Nic Atkin of SCMP MMA. “He’s 35 years old, and he was a national wrestler in Russia. So he’s a deadly, deadly athlete. Truly a pound-for-pound great.” 

Meanwhile, another super-fight possibility opened up later in the last Friday’s event, when flyweight kickboxing king Superlek Kiatmoo9 chopped down the towering Muay Thai phenom Nabil Anane to take another step towards challenging Rodtang Jitmuangnon for his Muay Thai strap. When asked about his views on a meeting between the Thai striking superstars, Sityodtong said that while he’s open to making it happen, he respects the journeys each of them are on right now.

READ MORE – Anatoly Malykhin Gets His Long-Awaited Triumph Over Arjan Bhullar to Claim the ONE Heavyweight World Title at ONE Friday Fights 22

“I’m not ruling out Rodtang and Superlek. It’s just that they’re on different paths right now, and I’m trying to put out some really big fights,” he said.

Chatri Sityodtong also intended to fix bouts for Superlek Kiatmuu9 and Rodtang Jitmuangnon

Rodtang most recently took out WBC Muay Thai International Champion Edgar Tabares to cement his spot at the top of his division, and he could have newly signed Takeru Segawa in his sights next. For his part, Superlek expressed his desire to move up to bantamweight to challenge Jonathan Haggerty for his newly gained World Title. 

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With ONE Championship being home to the world’s best fighters, there will certainly be no shortage of superstar matchups. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what the promotion is cooking up for the future.