Arjan Bhullar, the ONE Championship heavyweight champion, negotiated a better contract and built a stronger relationship with the CEO after sitting out for two years due to renegotiations and injury, and is now excited about his upcoming fight and future opportunities.
Arjan Bhullar’s journey over the past two years has been a rollercoaster ride. After signing with ONE Championship in free agency following four fights in the UFC, Arjan immediately started building momentum with a win in his debut, before knocking off Brandon Vera to become the new heavyweight champion. With plans to expand into India, where Bhullar knows he would be a massive asset to the company, the 37-year-old fighter anticipated a very bright road ahead. Unfortunately, instead, he ran into a brick wall.
Following his title fight victory, Bhullar entered into contract renegotiations with ONE as he sought a better overall deal. The prolonged process ended up dragging out for over a year, which meant Bhullar’s rapid ascent was stunted and he was stuck sitting on the sidelines while missing time during the prime of his career. Bhullar said, “I win the title, momentum, excited, all that stuff but there’s also the business end of it. So we try to renegotiate, get that championship-level pay, a new deal and that took honestly way longer than I anticipated. It took us a year to actually get it pen to paper and that was very, very frustrating.”
As disappointing as it was to sit out for a year while working towards a new agreement with ONE Championship, Bhullar admits now that it was all worth it. Not only did he get a more lucrative contract, but he also ended up with a better relationship with ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong after they were effectively on opposite sites butting heads about his deal. “On the back end [of those negotiations], me and Chatri have a direct line now,” Bhullar said. “It’s been very, very good. It’s no more of his people, my people, none of that. I got a new deal. It’s one of those things that excites me to get back.”
In his absence, undefeated Russian Anatoly Malykhin made a fast rise up the ranks by capturing the interim ONE heavyweight title before becoming a two-division champion. As Bhullar prepares for his return at ONE Friday Fights 22, he not only has a new contract and a healthy bicep but also has a challenge worthy of his attention. “I am very, very happy now,” Bhullar said. “I’ve got a great opponent coming up who’s done great things while I’ve been away. It’s going to mean more beating him. There’s more eyeballs on the product with the Amazon Prime [deal], the U.S. debut blowing up. With our promotion blowing up in India with Star Sports leading in. I’ve got a great relationship with Chatri. I’m getting paid what I believe is fair. I’m able to do things in return for the company, they are prioritizing the Indian market. We just did a whole tour on that. We’ve actually got something planned on the back end of this. Everybody wins.”