Arjan Bhullar is back in training and expects to be back in action in January. The reigning ONE Championship heavyweight champion posted an update on Instagram which showed him shadow boxing with his hands wrapped and doing some light pad work.
Bhullar is recovering from a surgical procedure on his arm. He had been scheduled to take on Anatoly Malykhin in a heavyweight title unification fight at ONE 161 but that bout was postponed in order for him to have the operation.
The surgery appears to have been a success and Bhullar is back in training:
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Good day
Underneath the video Bhullar has posted a caption which reads,
“Today was a good day, we’re on track to be ready for January.”
A bout between Malykhin and Bhullar has been in the works for over a year. The undefeated Russian earned a shot at the heavyweight champion who ended up stuck on the sidelines for over a year after attempting to renegotiate his contract.
Bhullar was eventually handed a new contract. But while he was out of action ONE Championship introduced an interim title which Malykhin won, beating Kirill Grishenko in January.
Meanwhile Bhullar reportedly turned down ‘multiple fight offers’ under the terms of his existing ONE Championship contract. He did eventually come to terms on a new deal but the regular heavyweight champion has not fought since last May.
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Unification bout
As a result ONE Championship now has two heavyweight champions. The undefeated Malykhin holds the interim belt while Bhullar is the regular champion.
Next up for both men is a unification bout but that has been delayed due to Bhullar’s surgery. In the interim the two have been trading barbs on social media with Malykhin repeatedly calling the Canadian ‘a chicken’.
Bhullar has had plenty to say on the subject too. He highlighted his opponent’s PED ban and called Malykhin ‘a dirty Russian’, having wrestled against numerous opponents from that country during his days representing Canada in the sport he clearly has strong feelings on the subject.
There is no love lost between these two men and they will eventually settle their differences inside the ONE Championship cage. It seems that might be happening in January.
