A photomontage shows ONE Championship heavyweight world champion Arjan “Singh” Bhullar (left) and challenger Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin, who are slated to face-off on Sept. 29 at ONE 161 in Singapore. (Courtesy of ONE Championship)
ONE Championship’s heavyweight division has had somewhat of an asterisk beside it for the last few months.
Indian star Arjan “Singh” Bhullar still holds the world title, but Russian powerhouse Anatoly “Sladkiy” Malykhin secured the interim strap in February, meaning that the true king of the division remains unknown.
But the ever-growing weight class will crown its true king once again at ONE 161 on Sept. 29, when Bhullar and Malykhin meet in a ONE Heavyweight World Title unification bout in the card’s main event.
Bhullar grabbed the division’s strap in May 2021 when he defeated longtime divisional king Brandon Vera at ONE: DANGAL, crowning “Singh” as India’s first mixed martial arts world champion.
The 36-year-old former Olympic wrestler is unbeaten inside the ONE Circle. He has been noticeably absent on the global stage since winning the strap, but will be hungry to continue his run while cementing his claim to the heavyweight throne when he faces off with “Sladkiy”.
Malykhin's rise in ONE has been nothing short of meteoric. The Russian star debuted in 2021 and scored back-to-back wins to earn his shot at the ONE Interim Heavyweight World Title.
He eased past Kirill Grishenko at ONE: BAD BLOOD in February 2021 to earn an interim gold, and has since been calling for his chance to take on Bhullar to unify the division’s top prize.
Malykhin has been openly critical of Bhullar throughout his absence and the two have been trading words for some time, making this fight one of the most highly anticipated showdowns of the year.
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On Sept. 29, fans will finally get to witness which of these hulking athletes can truly lay claim to the undisputed ONE Heavyweight World Championship Title.
In the meantime, ONE Fight Night 1: Moraes vs. Johnson II will be broadcast live at 7 a.m. Western Indonesia Time (WIB) on Saturday, Aug. 27 on NETVERSE, Vidio.com, Kaskus TV and MAXstream. The main card will follow at 9 a.m. WIB on all four platforms, with a same-day broadcast on NET TV at 10:30 p.m. WIB.
This article was published in collaboration with ONE Championship.
