A Richmond Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist will be front and centre in the early hours of Saturday in what is being billed as “the biggest night of martial arts in India's history.”
Richmond’s own Arjan Bhullar is going head-to-head in Singapore at 3 a.m. Pacific time for one of the world’s leading MMA (mixed martial arts) titles.
Bhullar, 32, a former Canadian Olympic and Commonwealth wrestler, is taking on Brandon Vera for the One Dangal Championship Heavyweight World Title.
Now representing India, the Richmondite appears in confident mood heading into Saturday’s fight, tweeting over the last week or so how he is “ready to be king” and fans should get ready to “witness history.”
If he wins, he will become the first MMA fighter from Indian descent to win a world title.
Bhullar, who runs his own family, high-performance wrestling club in Richmond, had his first MMA fights as an amateur in 2014, before progressing to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 2017, where he was the first fighter of Indo-Canadian descent.
However, two years later, apparently unhappy with UFC’s lack of interest in India, he switched to the Singapore-based One Championship, which focuses on Asia.
Where to watch Bhullar v Vera?: Saturday’s fight is being livestreamed on the One Championship’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/ONEChampionship.
