[9] Malykhin is a Master of Sport in freestyle wrestling,[3][4] and won a bronze medal at the 2013 Russian championship.

[5] He also won gold in submission grappling at the 2016 UWW European championships[10] and is a 2017 WMMAA world champion in amateur mixed martial arts (MMA).

[12] In 2013, he won gold at the President Cup of Buryatia Republic in freestyle wrestling and placed third at the Russian national championship as a heavyweight.

[10][12][14][6] According to Malykhin, there were no prospects for wrestlers in his native Kemerovo, despite the fact that the city had many good coaches and athletes.

[12] Malykhin made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in September 2016, defeating Ilya Gunenko in the first round.

[14] In May 2017, Malykhin competed at the Russian championship in amateur MMA, defeating Dagestani Salimgerey Rasulov.

[19] Malykhin was scheduled to face Kirill Grishenko for the interim ONE Heavyweight World Championship on January 28, 2022, at ONE: Only the Brave.

[20] However, Malykhin withdrew because of testing positive for COVID-19 days before the event, and the bout was moved to ONE: Bad Blood on February 11, 2022.

[25][26] Malykhin faced Reinier de Ridder for the ONE Light Heavyweight World Championship on December 3, 2022, at ONE on Prime Video 5.

[29] The unification bout between Malykhin and Arjan Bhullar for the ONE Heavyweight World Championship was rescheduled for March 25, 2023, at ONE Fight Night 8.

[36] Malykhin won the title by TKO in round three after de Ridder did not get up, becoming the first three-division champion in MMA history as well as the first to hold three championships simultaneously.