ONE Championship: Anatoly Malykhin says ‘weak’ Arjan Bhullar ‘doesn’t deserve to be here’
- Bhullar insists he isn’t ‘scared’ to face Malykhin, but Chatri says heavyweight champ is making ‘a million excuses’ to avoid title unification fight
- ‘I would be scared too,’ ONE chairman says – ‘he has better wrestling than me, he hits harder than me. What’s Arjan gonna do?’
Anatoly Malykhin and ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong are in agreement, it seems, that heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar is running scared.
Undefeated interim heavyweight king Malykhin became a two-division champion on Saturday morning by claiming the light heavyweight belt with a brutal first-round KO of Reinier de Ridder that saw the Dutchman leave the Mall of Asia Arena on a stretcher.
The 34-year-old Russian had arrived for his post fight interview screaming “chicken” in the hallway and yelling “next fight let’s go, Arjan, let’s go”.
Indian-Canadian Bhullar, who is yet to defend the title he won in April 2021, pulled out of September’s planned unification fight, and opted to undergo surgery on his bicep.
“He’s just weak,” Malykhin (12-0) said via translator after sitting down backstage at Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. “He doesn’t deserve to be in ONE Championship, because it just happens every single time, so I’m gonna do the next fight at 93 kilos.”
A light heavyweight title defence may not be in ONE’s plans, however, with Bhullar responding on Instagram and suggesting that a fight date to unify the belts is in the works.