Apart from retaining his ONE heavyweight world title, Indian-Canadian fighter Arjan Bhullar also wants to deal Russian juggernaut Anatoly Malykhin his first career mixed martial arts defeat.
‘Singh’ Bhullar battles interim world champion Malykhin in a long-awaited unification bout on June 23 at ONE Friday Fights 22 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, the American Kickboxing Academy standout said spoiling the unblemished record to date of ‘Sladkiy’ is among his targets and has kept him focused while in training.
Arjan Bhullar said:
“At the end of the day, he’s undefeated, and he stopped everybody. You have to respect that. And that allowed me to stay focused, and stay very, very driven in my camp and in my preparation for him.”
Watch the interview below:
Anatoly Malykhin has a professional MMA record to date of 12-0, including four victories in ONE Championship since joining the promotion in 2021.
All of his victories in ONE came by way of finishes, the most recent back in December over Reinier de Ridder of the Netherlands by way of first-round knockout to seize the ONE light heavyweight world title.
Arjan Bhullar, too, has been undefeated in two fights under ONE Championship. He defeated Mauro Cerilli in his debut in October 2019 by decision. In his next fight in May 2021, he became the heavyweight world champion with a second-round technical knockout of Filipino-American former title holder Brandon Vera.
ONE Friday Fights 22 will mark his return to action following another long break.