Arjan Bhullar promises to stay active after he beats Anatoly Malykhin at ONE Friday Fights 22

Heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar intends to stay active in his ONE Championship campaign moving forward. Unlike in previous years, wherein he took some time off between fights, ‘Singh’ now looks to have shorter turnarounds, beginning this year.

The Indian-Canadian champion will be back in action on June 23 at ONE Friday Fights 22 in Bangkok, where he will defend the ONE heavyweight world title for the first time against interim title holder Anatoly Malykhin.

The contest comes more than two years after he became division king in May 2021 by beating former champion and now-retired Brandon Vera by technical knockout in the second round.

Before that, Arjan Bhullar, 37, was last in action in his ONE debut in October 2019, defeating Mauro Cerilli by unanimous decision.

It is these long gaps for fights that he promises to change after ONE Friday Fights 22.

Arjan Bhullar told the South China Morning Post in an interview:

“Absolutely. I'm going to be out there. We already have a date penciled in before the end of the year. I can't wait to get back out there. I want to stay busy. I am a competitive athlete in my prime.”

Watch the interview below:

While he is coming off another long layoff, Arjan Bhullar is confident of his game shape, having trained, he said, with his team even when he was away from competition.

Anatoly Malykhin, 35, for his part, has been busy, squeezing a pair of matches in each of the last two years.

In 2022, ‘Sladkiy’ had it impressive, netting world titles in fights he competed in. He knocked out Kirill Grishenko in February for the ONE interim heavyweight world title. In December, he KO’d Reinier de Ridder to become the new ONE light heavyweight king.

ONE Friday Fights 22 will take place at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium and will be aired for free on ONE Championship’s YouTube channel.