Arjan Bhullar Vs. Anatoly Malykhin Rescheduled For ONE Fight Night 12

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After another round of bout cancellations, ONE Heavyweight World Champion Arjan Bhullar and ONE Interim Heavyweight Champ Anatoly Malykhin will officially meet.

The heavyweight championship pair will collide in what will be the fight of the summer later this year in the headliner of ONE Fight Night 12 on Saturday, 15 July.

ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong confirmed the news in an interview with MMA Fighting this past Monday (April 10). "It's going to happen officially now 15 July. That's the word that I got just literally a few hours ago," he said.

The colossal matchup has already seen a multitude of cancellations over the past twelve months, with the first meeting due to take place last September at ONE 161 before Bhullar withdrew due to injury.

The contest was then rebooked for this past March at ONE Fight Night 8. However, the bout was again rescheduled due to a conflict in broadcaster commitments. The promotion hopes that the third time will be a charm, though.

ONE Fight Night 12 will mark "Singh's" first promotional appearance in ONE since dethroning MMA legend Brandon "The Truth" Vera for the World Title by knockout in May 2021 at ONE: DANGAL.

The constant fallouts have frustrated fans as well as Sityodtong, who expressed his thoughts about this at a press conference in late 2022.

Sityodtong felt Bhullar was scared of Malykhin following a series of delays, but now that Bhullar is back in good health, the Canadian-Indian standout is looking to build on his good form in The Home of Martial Arts.

Malykhin, though, 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.

"Sladkiy" was last seen at ONE on Prime Video 5, where he clinched the light heavyweight crown after a dominant one-round masterclass of former king Reinier de Ridder with another knockout. He will look to become the official heavyweight champ when he finally gets to unify gold against Bhullar.