ONE Championship: Anatoly Malykhin team want ‘backup fighter’ for Arjan Bhullar title clash in July
- Bhullar and Malykhin, ONE’s undisputed and interim heavyweight MMA champs, are now set to meet on July 15 in Bangkok, Thailand
- Pair have been booked to fight twice previously to no avail, and members of Malykhin’s inner circle now want a contingency plan put in place
Anatoly Malykhin has a new date for his long awaited ONE Championship title fight with Arjan Bhullar, but several key members of the Russian’s team doubt the fight will happen.
Malykhin, ONE’s interim heavyweight MMA champ, is now set to challenge undisputed kin Bhullar on July 15 in Bangkok, Thailand, the promotion’s chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong revealed in a Monday interview with MMA Fighting.
This marks the third attempt at booking a fight between the two heavyweights after two previous attempts fell through – hence the scepticism among Malykhin’s inner circle.
“I don’t believe it any more,” the Russian’s wife and manager Anita Malykhina told the Post soon after the new date for the fight was revealed.
Malykhin (12-0) and Bhullar (11-1) were first set to unify their titles last September, but the bout fell through when Bhullar suffered an injury in training.
The fight was then rescheduled for ONE Fight Night 8 last month, but was ultimately delayed again because of “a change in broadcaster commitments,” the promotion said in a statement at the time.
Those delays extended what was already a long lay-off for 36-year-old Bhullar, who has not competed since he won ONE’s undisputed heavyweight MMA title with a second-round TKO of Brandon Vera in May, 2021.