By:  | August 11, 2022 12:22 am

A heavyweight unification bout will be on the ONE 161 card. At least, according to Ariel Helwani who confirmed just now that Arjan Bhullar would be fighting Anatoly Malykhin in Singapore.

The fight has been in the works for over a year now with both men accusing each other of trying to hide. But Helwani says he has been told that the fight is signed and sealed for September 29th:

Two champions

Bhullar (11-1) is the regular champion. He won the belt by stopping Brandon Vera last year but has not fought in 14 months after becoming involved in a contractual dispute which was ultimately resolved.

With Bhullar sidelined due to those contract negotiations the promotion introduced an interim belt. Malykhin won it by stopping Kirill Grishenko in the second round and the two men have been going back and forth on social media for over a year now.

The fight was expected to headline a ONE on Amazon Prime card. But instead it has been booked for a Friday night slot in Singapore.

Title rematch

ONE on Amazon Prime 1 is set for August 27th and will be headlined by a flyweight title rematch between Adriano Moraes and Demetrious Johnson. Last year Moraes stunned the world by knocking out Johnson.

Moraes is currently in his second stint as champion and has held the title since 2019 although he has only defended it twice. While he has always been highly regarded in Asia the win over Johnson really put him on the global MMA map.

Johnson is widely regarded as being the greatest flyweight of all time. He successfully defended the UFC flyweight title 11 times and had been widely expected to win the ONE Championship belt at the first attempt.

The card will also feature the likes of Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Amir Aliakbari. ONE on Amazon Prime 2 is booked for September 30th, less than 24 hours after ONE 161.

ONE 161, Singapore, September 29th
Arjan Bhullar (c) vs. Anatoly Malykhin (For heavyweight title)