After more than a two-year absence due to injury and a contract dispute, Canadian Arjan Bhullar is set to defend his One Championship heavyweight title.
The 37-year-old from Richmond, B.C., takes on unbeaten Russian Anatoly (Sladkiy) Malykhin on Friday's "One Friday Fights 22" card at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.
Bhullar (11-1-0) says his career ended up on hold after his management team asked to get "championship pay" after he dethroned title-holder Brandon (The Truth) Vera in April 2021 in Singapore.
"They went to the table and they tried to negotiate a new deal for me. That took significantly longer than anyone anticipated," said Bhullar. "It essentially took one year to get a new deal done."
The red tape out of the way, Bhullar was originally slated to meet Malykhin at One 161 last September. But the fight was postponed when Bhullar needed surgery to repair a torn bicep tendon suffered in training.
The unification bout, which will be contested in a ring rather than a cage Friday, has had three dates since.
"It just kept dragging and dragging and dragging," said Bhullar. "That's the frustrating part because the fun is in competing. That's when you earn your paycheque, that's when you get to compete which is why I do this. The training isn't the fun part.
"I've been training the entire time. I haven't gotten out of shape. I haven't lost my fire. If anything, it's built over time … I'm supposed to be out there. I'm the champ."
On the plus side, Bhullar says his relationship with One Championship management is good today now that he deals directly with chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.
Malykhin (12-0-0) won the interim heavyweight title in February 2022 when he knocked out Belarusian Kirill Grishenko in the second round in the “ONE Championship: Bad Blood” main event in Singapore.
He earned a US$100,000 performance bonus.
After beating Grishenko, Malykhin said "Arjan Bhullar, my baby chicken," in English when the Russian was asked if he had a message for Bhullar.
The hard-hitting Malykhin, who then stopped Reinier (The Dutch Knight) de Ridder in the first round Dec. 3 to win the One light-heavyweight title, repeated the slur in an interview with One Championship.
"(Bhullar) is my little baby chicken who is clinging on to the belt that should be mine," said Malykhin. "He’s not a real champion. He keeps hiding from strong opponents, tries to choose convenient opponents.
“I am a Russian freestyle wrestling champion, so he won’t be able to surprise me. His striking is very weak. It looks like he is trying to swat a mosquito. People will forget him after I am finished with him.”
Bhullar has a wrestling pedigree of his own having won bronze at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro and gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India.
Bhullar, named Canadian Wrestler of the Year in 2009, finished 11th at the 2012 Olympics in London.
He's slightly mystified at Malykhin's "baby chicken" trash-talk. Bhullar has lambasted the Russian for his social media taunts while he was sidelined sorting out his contract.
"Saying what he has said in my absence that's cowardly. That's poor character and that's what he's about. But he's going to have to answer for it," said Bhullar.
"And I truly feel fighting is a reflection of who you are. It bring out everything — your truest character, who you are. Your inside gets revealed in that ring. And I think his poor character's not going to hold up."
Bhullar, a father of two girls with another baby due in September, says Malykhin has had both his manager and wife message him.
"Why would you put your woman out there?" Bhullar wondered aloud.
"The whole camp is cheap," he added. "They all have poor character. They're all living in the clouds and I'm going to bring them back down to reality (Friday)."
The champion also doesn't give the interim title much credit.
"Whatever that means," Bhullar said. "It doesn't mean anything. There's the champion and there's everybody else … Interim means he's holding my spot. That's the way I take it."
The 35-year-old Malykhin is 4-0-0 in One Championship with three first-round finishes. He has fought three times since Bhullar's last bout.
Bhullar turned to mixed martial arts because he didn't want to give up competition when his wrestling career ended. His first pro MMA fight was in November 2014.
He went on to win three of four fights in the UFC, but left when his contract ran out and turned down an offer to stay.
Bhullar wanted to know what plans the promotion had for India, only to learn the promotion was more interested in other locales.
So he went to One Championship which, with its eye on India's population of more than 1.4 billion, was only too happy to promote Bhullar as a big man from India.
"When you think MMA India, you think me," Bhullar said proudly. "And that's forever. Once I won that (championship belt), that secured that piece of legacy for me for ever. But I'm not resting on that. I want to build, one, on my legacy and, two, for the next generation to have several (Indian) world champions and really cement us as a fighting culture.
"That's what excites, that's what drives me."
He hopes his success can lead to a live event in India.
"That needs to happen. I think it's time. And with my performance (Friday), I think it'll seal the deal."
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2023
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
