Arjan Bhullar recalls what drew him to ONE Championship: “They had a plan for me”

Reigning ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar is looking back on what initially drew him to sign with the promotion.

Bhullar made his ONE Championship debut all the way back in 2019, earning a win over Mauro Cerilli en route to a ONE heavyweight world title opportunity against former champion Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera. Bhullar scored a second-round knockout against Vera, capturing the heavyweight crown in just his second fight. More than two years later, Bhullar has not yet defended the world title once.

That changes on June 23 as ‘Singh’ is finally making his long-awaited comeback. Bhullar will look to unify his undisputed heavyweight crown against interim ONE heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin. Ahead of their frequently delayed clash, Arjan Bhullar appeared on Smack Talk with Sandhu to discuss the impending contest and what initially drew him to the promotion four years ago:

“At that time they signed DJ, they signed Eddie, they signed Sage, they’re making big moves, and it was just you know for me it was something that made sense to me... They had a plan for me, ‘Hey this is what we wanna do in India, in the Indian market,’ they have a huge broadcast deal with Star Sports which is in 800 million homes.”

Bhullar has a very tall task ahead of him this month as he meets ONE Championship’s 2022 Fighter of the Year, Anatoly Malykhin. The Russian juggernaut had a breakout year, capturing the interim heavyweight title before going on to become a two-division ONE world champion, earning a shocking first-round knockout against Reinier de Ridder to capture the ONE light heavyweight title.

Malykhin is currently undefeated in his mixed martial career, going 12-0 overall, including four-straight wins inside the circle and a 100% finish rate. A win over ‘Singh’ undoubtedly solidifies him as the best heavyweight fighter alive, no matter what those other promotions like to tell you.

Fans in North America can catch Arjan Bhullar vs. Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Friday Fights 22 on June 23 live and for free on ONE Championship’s YouTube channel.