Arjan Bhullar wants Anatoly Malykhin next: “To get his fake title out of there”

Reigning ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar can’t wait to return to the circle and remind his enemies who the real king of the division is.

The 36-year-old Canadian-Indian superstar has been out of action since winning the heavyweight belt in early 2021. But he’s just about ready to make his way back to competition.

Before he steps back into the cage, however, there’s a massive world title fight happening this weekend.

Two-division ONE world champion ‘The Dutch Knight’ Reinier de Ridder is set to face ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly ‘Sladkiy’ Malykhin in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 5, when ONE Championship returns to the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

Assuming he is ready to go early next year, it will be logical for Arjan Bhullar to take on the winner between de Ridder and Malykhin. If it were up to him though, he’d like to unify the belts with the interim champ Malykhin.

Bhullar told ONE Championship in a recent interview:

“[The next fight] is going to be either Malykhin – to get his fake title out of there and shut his mouth up – or it’s going to be the winner of Brandon Vera vs. Amir Aliakbari, and I [would] like Amir as well. That’s what makes sense for me. And then I drop down to fight RDR [at light heavyweight] after that. That’s the ideal path for me.”

ONE on Prime Video 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin broadcasts live on Friday, December 2, and is free for fans in the United States and Canada with an Amazon Prime subscription.

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Arjan Bhullar is recovered from injury and ready to go as soon as possible

ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar is looking to book a fight in the soonest possible time.

Following his world-title winning victory over former king Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera at ONE: Dangal in 2021, Bhullar entered extensive contract renegotiations with ONE Championship, which kept him sidelined for several months.

Once the details were finally ironed out, he resumed training but then injured himself, which decommissioned him even longer. During that time, ONE Championship crowned an interim heavyweight world titleholder in Anatoly Malykhin, who will attempt to take the light heavyweight belt from Reinier de Ridder this weekend.

Arjan Bhullar wants the winner, and doesn’t want to wait too long to get the fight.

Bhullar told ONE Championship in the same interview:

“I’m recovered. I was cleared [on] November 7, and I have let the company know. These guys are fighting on December 2. Book me for December 3. Send the contract. I want to get booked. I want to get active.”