“You learn your lessons and life goes on” – Arjan Bhullar on painful Anatoly Malykhin defeat last year

Former ONE heavyweight MMA world champion Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar imagined a different ending to his first world title defense against Anatoly Malykhin last year.

After coming off of a difficult two-year layoff, Bhullar knew he was going to be a little rusty when he fought the Russian at ONE Friday Fights 22. However, he never thought he would lose his coveted belt to Malykhin by round three of their world title unification bout, especially after being a dominant heavyweight for most of his career.

Speaking with ONE Championship, Bhullar said:

“Just disappointing obviously. I'm a competitor [and] I like to win. But you learn your lessons and life goes on.”

Since dropping his title to Malykhin, Bhullar has used disappointment as a confidence booster to prepare for his next heavyweight bout.

The 37-year-old veteran is set to exchange blows with Iranian superstar Amir Aliakbari at the Lusail Sports Arena in Qatar in a bid to challenge ONE heavyweight title holder Malykhin.

Aliakbari will be Bhullar’s second opponent since becoming active last year, so there’s a lot of outside pressure to deliver a title-worthy performance. The Iranian juggernaut is coming in hot with three dominant finishes over some of the world’s elite, including a TKO win over former divisional titleholder Brandon Vera and Canada’s Dustin Joynson.

---

Arjan Bhullar feels excited to deliver a win in front of large Indian fanbase in Qatar

Despite all the pressures to get the next win, Arjan Bhullar’s excitement to fight in Qatar reaches a whole other level of happiness.

The Canadian-Indian striker has reaped a lot of benefits in becoming India’s first MMA world champion back in May 2021. He used his platform as a champion to travel to India and promote the organization in ways he couldn’t before, appearing in top media news outlets like ESPN India and Star Sports to inspire the next generation of Indian fighters.

So, the fact that he gets to travel once more and represent a large Indian fanbase in Qatar is a dream come true.

He told ONE:

“It’s a life experience to go out there and be in Qatar. I don’t know if I will ever go back again in my life, so I’m going to enjoy that. But everything is much better when you win. I’m so excited to be there, meet the people out there and the fans, and I’m also excited to win.”

ONE 166: Qatar will air live on March 1 free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada