Anatoly Malykhin retires after winning ONE heavyweight title

Anatoly Malykhin is done fighting.

Malykhin (15-1), arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in ONE Championship history, has announced his retirement from MMA following his latest feat in the ring. The Russian fighter left his gloves in the middle of the ring after knocking out Oumar Kane to win the ONE heavyweight title \Friday in the main event of ONE Friday Fights 154 at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

"I want to say a big thank you to Mr. Chatri (Sityodtong) for giving me an amazing six years," Malykhin said in Russian through a translator. "I started losing the love for the sport, but being here today and having the support of everyone in the stadium and having the people here from Russia – they all traveled to support me. I've got Petr Yan over here. We've been training for the past two weeks. I want to say thank you Mr. Chatri."

Malykhin was asked multiple times to confirm his retirement, given the lack of clarity in his first comments, to which Malykhin replied, "I'm done."

Malykhin, who's been fighting MMA since 2016, wants to leave behind the violence and slow down his lifestyle.

"That's it. I'm going back to Altai and taking care of my cows and my dogs," Malykhin said. "I'm tired of spilling blood and being away from home."

Malykhin impressed many with his five-year-run in ONE Championship. He won the middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight titles. He's the first-ever three division champion of a major MMA organization. Throughout this run, Malykhin defeated Reinier de Ridder, Arjan Buhllar, and Kane. The 38-year-old leaves the sport with an 100 percent finishing record with 11 knockouts and 4 submissions.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Anatoly Malykhin retires after winning ONE heavyweight title