Arjan Bhullar breaks down why Brandon Vera was more dangerous than Anatoly Malykhin

Arjan Bhullar believes the man he beat for the ONE heavyweight world championship was far more dangerous than his ONE Friday Fights 22 opponent, Anatoly Malykhin.

On Friday, Bhullar will return after a two-year-long layoff to finally defend his ONE world title against the promotion’s reigning interim heavyweight titleholder and two-division champion, Anatoly Malykhin. The two behemoths will square off in the main event when the promotion heads back to the newly renovated Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand.

Before their long-awaited clash goes down, Arjan Bhullar sat down with the South China Moring Post and suggested that the man he beat for the heavyweight crown, Brandon Vera, was far more dangerous than the Russian juggernaut.

“I just fought a guy in Brandon Vera, who submitted guys off his back, who's knocked out with his shin,” Bhullar said. “He's knocked guys out with his hands and one-punched people. Anatoly hasn't done any of that, and he has fewer weapons than [Vera] does.”

While it’s been more than two years since Arjan Bhullar took the world title from Vera or fought at all, ‘Singh’ insists that he has stayed busy in the gym the entire time, evolving his game and preparing for an unavoidable collision with ONE Championship’s 2022 Fighter of the Year.

While Bhullar has kept busy at the gym, Anatoly Malykhin has been making history, capturing two ONE world titles in 2022 and improving his record to 12-0 with a 100% finish rate inside the Circle. He’ll look to keep his ‘O’ intact while trading in his interim title for undisputed gold this Friday in The Land of Smiles.

Fans in North America can catch all the action at ONE Friday Fights 22 live and for free on ONE Championship’s YouTube channel on June 23.