ONE Championship’s Anatoliy Malykhin is essentially the most dominant MMA star within the enterprise proper now. Because the promotions heavyweight, mild heavyweight, and middleweight world champion, the Russian wrestler is the primary fighter to ever win three main titles in three weight courses and to carry all of them on the identical time. Malykhin is now seeking to improve his spotless report of 14 wins (10 by knockout) when he defends the heavyweight title towards “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane (6-1-0) at ONE 169.
And, whereas each males come from a wrestling background, Malykhin tells M&F that his coaching strategies are utterly completely different.
For these questioning what sort of an individual Malykhin is like exterior of the cage, it ought to be famous that regardless of the large constrains on his time, the champ was extremely considerate along with his solutions, albeit previous 10pm in his native 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 by way of a trusted interpreter.
And “rock it” he definitely did. Malykhin is simply days out from an especially essential title protection, however the wrestling star who’s accolades embody bronze within the 2013 Russian championship for freestyle and gold for submission grappling within the 2016 UWW European championships, is aware of what it takes to succeed, and which means giving his all in any state of affairs. His drive to push previous his limits is undoubtedly one of many causes that he prefers old skool kinds of coaching.
Anatoliy Malykhin chooses freestyle wrestling coaching over technological devices
In a latest Instagram video, the champ laid down whereas his spouse dropped a coconut onto his abs, from a collection of accelerating heights, till she was all the way in which as much as the roof. “Coconut-proof!” joked the MMA star. However whereas the clip could have been amusing to some, it was the proper illustration of how Malykhin has turned to nature somewhat than expertise with a view to push by way of 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 an excessive amount of on expertise may have its disadvantages. “All of this new stuff, I’m very suspicious of it,” he shares. “I see these guys. They’ve so many screens throughout them to measure your max, their heartbeat, and if their heartbeat simply goes above 150 bpm, they cease, they cease coaching. They should decelerate. I’ve seen many guys who couldn’t progress due to that, as a result of they began to coach nicely, too scientifically, too protected, they usually didn’t progress.
He provides: “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.”
Definitely, in the case of his coaching, Anatoliy Malykhin is extra Rocky than Ivan Drago. The primary a part of his coaching camp for this title protection was held within the Altai Mountain area in Russia. He ran up these hills and mountains, and practiced holding his breath within the native streams. His coach, Johnny Hutchinson, struck him with sticks to construct his tolerance for ache.
Champions are athletes which can be prepared to evolve
Regardless of his proclivity for old-school coaching, Malykhin will not be afraid to attempt newer strategies that make sense to him. The truth is, he’s a giant proponent of utilizing resistance bands. The champ tells M&F that by chopping down so many opponents who had a lot bigger muscular tissues, he realized that muscle quantity and energy are two various 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 big goal on their again, however Malykhin has three. To that finish, he’s been considering fastidiously about the way to proceed to present the absolute best accounting for himself and his followers. “
I’m considering that I ought to in all probability vacate the middleweight belt fairly quickly,” 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 state of affairs that he’ll proceed to present some severe consideration too. For now, nevertheless, this piece of Siberian metal says that he’s not simply coconut-proof, however bullet-proof as nicely. Malykhin is loving being part of ONE Championship, and feels a duty to be an excellent ambassador for the organisation too. Not solely does Malykhin prepare to win, however he says that he’s at all times motivated to present his followers essentially the most entertaining battle attainable. “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 towards “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane at ONE 169 this Friday, November 8 broadcast dwell on Prime Video starting at 8pm ET.
Observe Anatoliy Malykhin on Instagram: @anmalykhin
