"I've been told this week ONE Championship will get the date locked in" - Arjan Bhullar training for return to ONE circle

A titanic clash between Arjan Bhullar and Anatoliy Malykhin could be on the horizon.

Bhullar, the ONE heavyweight world champion, has an impending return to the circle and the most likely opponent for him could be Malykhin, the holder of the ONE interim heavyweight world championship.

In an Instagram post, Bhullar said that he’s just waiting for the contract from ONE Championship and he’ll be on his way to return to the cage soon after.

Arjan Bhullar wrote:

“Monday sweat under coach @jay_striking. I’ve been told this week @onechampionship will get the date locked in and [the] contract [will be] sent to me. We’re on a mission.”

Bhullar last fought in May 2021 when he knocked out Brandon Vera in the second round to become the ONE heavyweight world champion.

In his absence, Malykhin rose to the top of the division and collected interim gold. He did so by scored a second-round knockout win over Kirill Grishenko in February 2022.

While the two titans haven’t fought against each other, they weren’t shy in calling each other out. Well, at least Malykhin wasn't.

The Russian star called Bhullar a chicken and even had a video edited that put Bhullar’s face on a baby’s body. Malykhin also accused the Indian star of ducking him instead of signing up for a colossal title unification bout.

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Arjan Bhullar plans to get champ-champ status

So far, ONE Championship has had three MMA concurrent two-division world champions in Aung La N Sang, Martin Nguyen and Reinier de Ridder. Arjan Bhullar plans to join that exclusive club.

In an interview on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Bhullar said he wants to challenge de Ridder for the ONE light heavyweight world title so he can become ONE Championship’s next champ-champ.

ONE Championship sets its light heavyweight limit at 225 pounds, a weight that Bhullar is comfortable with hitting.

“To be honest with ONE also, their light heavyweight belt is only 225 [pounds]. It's not that low in terms of weight class. So that's something I got on my radar beyond this one fight. I wanna get two belts.”

Fortunately for Bhullar, de Ridder is also willing to climb up to heavyweight and become ONE Championship’s first-ever triple champion.