Arjan Bhullar says desire to be better is his motivation ahead of Anatoly Malykhin fight

ONE heavyweight world champion Arjan Bhullar is expecting a tough challenge in his title showdown in two weeks’ time but asserts that he is ready for it.

The Indo-Canadian fighter will defend his world title at ONE Friday Fights 22 on June 23 at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok.

He will take on ONE interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin of Russia in a long-awaited unification bout to determine the true king of the division.

‘Singh’ Arjan Bhullar recognizes that Anatoly Malykhin is going to be a tough customer but the fighter in him, who seeks to continue to challenge himself, is excited to get it going.

He told Smack Talk with Sandhu in an interview:

“The challenge from myself to bring out the best in me to do that is what really excites me. It’s not Anatoly. Yes, there’s this danger and how we’re going to win and all that stuff.”

Watch the interview below:

The ONE Friday Fights 22 showdown will mark the first time that Arjan Bhullar will defend his world title.

He became the ONE heavyweight champion in May 2021 when he stopped former division king and now-retired Brandon Vera by technical knockout (punches) in the second round. He has not competed since then.

Up for him in his return is Anatoly Malykhin, who is looking to become a bona-fide two-sport ONE world champion as he also holds the promotion’s light-heavyweight title.

The Russian juggernaut has been undefeated in four fights to date in ONE, the last two winning him world titles – against Kirill Grishenko in February 2022 for the interim heavyweight world title and the light-heavyweight gold over Reinier de Ridder back in December.