ONE Championship: Arjan Bhullar vs. Anatoly Malykhin Set for Heavyweight Title Unification Bout

Arjan Bhullar ONE Championship
Arjan Bhullar Credit: ONE Championship

After nearly two years on the sidelines, ONE Championship heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar is set to defend his title.

In a match-up that previously fell through, Bhullar (11-1) is set to take on Anatoly Malykhin (12-0) on March 25, 2023 in Singapore. The event will air in the west on Amazon Prime Video.

The South China Morning Post was first to report news of the match-up. The event will be ONE on Prime Video 8, or ONE Fight Night 8, as the series has since been renamed. Bhullar himself had previously stated on social media that he’d signed on for the bout.

Bhullar, an Indian-Canadian wrestler who went 3-1 under the UFC banner prior to leaving for ONE Championship in free agency, was supposed to have faced Malykhin this past September. An undisclosed injury then forced him out of the bout.

Prior to winning the ONE heavyweight title from Brandon Vera in 2021, Arjan Bhullar had defeated Mauro Cerilli in his ONE Championship debut.

Malykhin went on to win the promotion’s interim title, defeating Kirill Grishenko to claim gold. With the Bhullar fight still months off, he returned to action last month, dropping down in weight to light up middleweight and light heavyweight double-champ Reinier de Ridder in a destructive display of power and accuracy.