After a plethora of rearrangements, ONE Championship fans will finally get the hard-hitting heavyweight contest they’ve been longing for on Friday, 23rd June, at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Headlining what’s expected to be a stacked ONE Friday Fights 22 card will be the ONE heavyweight world title unification bout between divisional king Arjan Bhullar and interim titleholder Anatoly Malykhin.
The pair were initially rumored to collide at ONE: Only The Brave in January 2022, before Bhullar’s side declined the fight, kickstarting an arduous road to the highly anticipated tussle.
Injury and contract negotiations scuppered further plans over the last 12 months, but now it appears the matchup is official.
Bhullar was last seen at ONE: Dangal in May 2021, where he captured the divisional crown from inaugural ONE heavyweight world champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera via a devastating second-round knockout, meaning Malykhin will be his first test as reigning king.
And a significant test it will be.
The Russian powerhouse will look to continue the fine form that has brought him both the ONE light heavyweight world title and the ONE interim heavyweight world championship over the last year when he meets “Singh.”
Malykhin was last seen in the Circle at ONE on Prime Video 5 in December, where he snatched the light heavyweight crown from Reinier de Ridder after a dominant one-round masterclass.
That victory followed three first-round finishes in the heavyweight division that included him winning the interim ONE heavyweight world title against Belarusian standout Kirill Grishenko in February.
Malykhin has long called himself the king of the heavyweight division, and he’ll get a chance to prove it on June 23rd.
The final arrangement of this much-anticipated world title unification bout will satisfy fans, who have been waiting for more than a year to see who the baddest MMA fighter in ONE Championship truly is. Fortunately, the wait is just about over.