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ONE Championship heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar recently sat down with renowned sports journalist Ariel Helwani on his show The MMA Hour. The Indo-Canadian champion spoke about his current contract with ONE Championship, his plans on crossing over to pro wrestling, and much more.
One of the more interesting spots in the conversation was Bhullar's feelings toward not being included in the historic ONE X card in March. The three-part mega show was ONE's biggest ever and would have been much bigger if their heavyweight champion was a part of it. Bhullar has had some problems with his contract and hasn't fought or defended his belt since winning it last year.
On not being part of ONE X, Bhullar had this to say:
"Oh man, absolutely! You know, first Indian world champ, got a big TV deal in India with Star Sports, you know. I felt [that] I should have been out there, absolutely. I should have been out there before that. Like, continue the momentum. We just got the title, let's get going. And the only way you have momentum is to, in my opinion, multiple times, you gotta get out there a year. And so, now, in-between fights continue that momentum with the progressing. I'm excited to get real busy going forward."
Watch Bhullar's interview on The MMA Hour below:
Henry Cejudo wanted to come to ONE Championship - Arjan Bhullar drops a bombshell on what could have been another UFC-ONE trade
In perhaps the most interesting bit of the interview, Arjan Bhullar gave out a major scoop on another possible UFC-ONE Championship trade that could have happened before. It involves former UFC double champion Henry 'The Messenger' Cejudo:
"There was also another opportunity that came towards us through all this and that Henry Cejudo wanted to come to ONE [Championship] on a trade. Absolutely. Because he couldn't get his stuff worked out on his end. That went high up in the UFC and that was being explored."
We all know about the Demetrious Johnson-Ben Askren trade that happened years ago and how it shook the sport. Little did we know that the UFC was also exploring trading Cejudo off to ONE Championship for another high-profile fighter. Bhullar further expounded on how he thinks this deal can happen again:
"[Ben] Askren wasn't a good representation of how ONE athletes can compete. I don't feel that. He was two years retired, bad hip, sitting... [ONE CEO] Chatri's [Sityodtong] very very competitive. I know that. And we have great champions. Will [such a trade] ever happen? I don't know. Will I ever entertain that? Absolutely... On a competitive standpoint, I want to fight the best in the world."
Bhullar expressed his desire to entertain a deal of this nature in the future. Furthermore, he hinted that he could rejoin his previous promotion if the possibility opened up.
