ONE Championship heavyweight gold will be on the line when Brandon Vera takes on Arjan Bhullar this May at Code of Honor.
This past weekend at Fire & Fury, it was announced that Brandon Vera would return to action in the coming months, putting his heavyweight title on the line. Now, we know who his opponent will be. Canada’s Arjan Bhullar, who left the UFC last year while on a two-fight win streak, 3-1 in the promotion overall, will face Vera at ONE Championship: Code of Honor in Manila, Philippines, on May 29.
Asian MMA was first to report the news. Tuesday, Bhullar confirmed he had signed a bout agreement, although he did not mention his opponent by name.
Vera (16-8, 1NC) began his pro career back in 2002, and quickly made his way to the UFC. After an impressive four-fight win streak to start his run there, which included a TKO of Frank Mir, Vera ran into trouble in back-to-back fights against Tim Sylvia and Fabricio Werdum.
For those keeping track, that was 2008. “The Truth” would stick around the UFC for a while, losing to the likes of Randy Couture, Jon Jones, and Shogun Rua before being released by the promotion in 2014. He’d then link up with ONE Championship, claiming their heavyweight title in his second fight with the promotion. He has since defended it twice, as the only heavyweight champ the company has ever known.
Most recently, Vera cut down to light heavyweight to challenge Aung La N Sang for one of his belts. He wound up finished via TKO in the second round of their bout at ONE Championship: Century Part 2 last October in Tokyo.
Bhullar (10-1) is currently on a three-fight win streak, with victories over Juan Adams and Mauro Cerilli most recently. The latter came in his ONE Championship debut. A Canadian of Indian heritage, Bhullar was seen as a way into the Indian market for the UFC, as the nation remains one of the few untapped markets of any considerable size remaining for MMA. However, having fought out his deal with the UFC last year, Bhullar opted to sign on with ONE.
No other bouts have been announced for ONE Championship: Code of Honor to date.
