By:  | June 29, 2022 11:17 am

Arjan Bhullar says that Anatoly Malykhin is ducking him! The Canadian accuses the interim heavyweight champion of refusing to sign a bout agreement for  their unification fight.

Bhullar says he has accepted the fight on three separate occasions but Malykhin refuses to sign the paperwork. To emphasize his point the regular champion shared a photo of him wearing a traditional Russian hat during a trip to Moscow.

In his Instagram post Bhullar goes as far as to say that Malykhin is not ‘a real Russian’:

In the works

The fight has been in the works for over a year now and both heavyweights have accused each other of running scared. Bhullar goes into a bit more detail here and has the following message for Maykhin:

I know real Russians. Real Russians live in Dagestan and fight for Eagles MMA. Real Russians don’t use their wife to try to get fights.

Malykhin is currently based long term in Phuket and has been very vocal about wanting to fight Malykhin, repeatedly calling the Canadian heavyweight champion ‘a chicken’ for refusing to accept the fight. It appears the roles have been reversed now with Bhullar stating that he is ready and willing to take on the unification bout.

Murky past

Not for the first time Bhullar also brings up Malykhin’s murky past. In 2013 he was handed a two year ban after testing positive for a banned substance when he won a silver medal at the Russian Nationals, getting retrospectively disqualified.

It is a sensitive topic for Bhullar who represented Canada at the 2012 Olympics and saw several of the wrestlers who finished ahead of him subsequently fail drug tests.

He raised the subject once again in his latest Instagram post:

A lifetime of hard work, no short cuts. This is me in Russia many years ago, round about the time Anatoliy Malykhin got caught sticking a needle in his a$$ trying to cheat his way to becoming a somebody.

Bhullar was on the Canadian wrestling team from 2004 until 2012. So the photo was presumably taken on a trip to compete for his country in Russia during this period.

Big card

ONE 161 will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime and would be the perfect fight card for a heavyweight unification bout. Demetrious Johnson will be rematching Adriano Moraes at that event which is taking place on Saturday morning in Singapore.

With Bhullar finally signing a new contract the stars seemed to have finally aligned for the two best fighters on the roster to face one another on the biggest card of the year. But it sounds like negotiations are not proceeding smoothly.

Malykhin generally has plenty to say for himself on social media. It will be interesting to see how he responds to Bhullar’s latest taunts!