Arjan Bhullar names the wrestler he wants to face if he decides to try pro-wrestling

ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar isn’t planning on walking away from the world of mixed martial arts anytime soon, but if he does, it’ll be to take a run at popular professional wrestling superstar CM Punk.

Bhullar is scheduled to make his return to the ONE Championship ring for the first time in more than two years this Friday night at ONE Friday Fights 22 at the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok. ‘Singh’ is set to unify his undisputed heavyweight gold with the interim heavyweight title currently held by the promotion’s 2022 Fighter of the Year, Anatoly Malykhin.

Ahead of his highly anticipated clash with the Russian juggernaut, Bhullar spoke with MMA Underground about a potential career change, calling out AEW star CM Punk who recently made his own epic return to the ring last Saturday.

“I don’t know if you’ve seen recently, we had a great chat with Bret Hart. I’m a big pro wrestling guy,” Bhullar revealed. “He’s agreed to mentor me in my transition, and I see your boy CM Punk is back. I got my eyes on him. He’s on [AEW] Collision. I’d love to collide with that guy.”

CM Punk has been one of professional wrestling’s most polarizing figures over the last 20 years. After making waves on the indie scene, Punk signed with WWE in 2005. Punk worked his way up from the developmental scene to superstardom, capturing the WWE Championship on multiple occasions and holding it for an impressive 434 days during one reign.

Punk was notoriously fired by the promotion in 2014 after tensions between the two continued to grow over the direction of his character and the product in general. During his time away, CM Punk had a brief stint in mixed martial arts, losing back-to-back fights, though one was overturned after his opponent tested positive for marijuana. Since then, Punk has made his way back on TV, signing with AEW.

He made his return after a 10-month absence on Saturday night, prompting Arjan Bhullar’s comments. You can’t help but wonder what a match between the two would entail, but for now, ‘Singh’ will need to focus on getting the job done against a very real challenge in Malykhin.

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.