Singapore – 19th July 2021: Reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion Arjan “Singh” Bhullar is fresh off his title-winning performance against former heavyweight king Brandon “The Truth” Vera last May, and already the Indian wrestling star is looking at future challenges.
Weeks ago, ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong was quoted as saying he was welcome to the idea of hosting a UFC vs. ONE cross-promotional event where his ONE Championship athletes would go head-to-head with their UFC counterparts. While it’s much more fantasy now than reality, like many, Bhullar is excited with the idea.
In this case, Bhullar would be paired up with UFC Heavyweight World Champion Francis “The Predator” Ngannou. While he fully respects Ngannou and everything he brings to the table, “Singh” believes he could beat the hulking UFC heavyweight should they meet in the cage.
“Francis is a beast of a man, a knockout machine, and a champion in his own right, of his people of Africa. I have a lot of respect for his body of work. What he’s trying to do in Africa, I’m trying to do for India. What he’s trying to do for his people, I’m doing for my people. He’s got a great foundation that he helps people with. He has great values as an individual, all of those things, and he’s a champion as am I,” Bhullar said in a recent interview with International Business Times.
“That matchup would be a welcomed matchup.”
Exactly how would Bhullar beat Ngannou? The ONE heavyweight kingpin gave fans an idea of how he could handle “The Predator.”
“There’s a blueprint to beat him. He’s got huge knockout power, but with that huge knockout power, there’s also a downside to individuals with that kind of power. They burn hot and they burn early. You gotta drag the fight out. You gotta wrestle him up, and that would be the game plan before you sink and drown him,” Bhullar said.
“All the respect to him and his body of work. That is the blueprint. He would say that’s not possible, and I would say it is, and that’s when we would fight and figure that out.”
While Ngannou is no doubt a well-rounded fighter, he is famous for his fearsome knockout power, which has stopped 12 of his opponents. Bhullar says he can nullify that power and take the action to where he would have the advantage.
“[He has] tremendous power, fight ending power until the end of the fight. We’ve seen that with the Stipe [Miocic] fights, even when he got dragged deep. If he does not drag deep, then he ends guys. But he’s still developing as well, and so am I,” Bhullar said.
“I don’t get hit often, not much at all. Throughout my entire career, I haven’t gotten hit clean. I feel my timing, my distance management, my defensive capabilities, and my counter wrestling would all match up beautifully with that.”
