Brandon Vera Defends Heavyweight Throne Against Arjan Bhullar at One: Dangal on May 15

A dream to be a world champ. To create a legacy that will echo in eternity. Something my fam n loved ones can be proud of. This is it. #ONEDangal We will make history and give a distraction from the terrible reality of Covid on the ground. There can only be one of the #Dangal pic.twitter.com/yUxOJQOwkV

— Arjan Singh Bhullar (@TheOneASB) April 29, 2021

The latest One Championship event has just been formally announced after all the fights have already happened, with a title that means “wrestling” in English.

On Friday, One sent out a press release officially confirming its next event titled One: Dangal. The event had been discussed previously, with headliner Arjan Singh Bhullar (10-1) writing about his opportunity to fight for Brandon Vera’s (16-8) heavyweight belt on Thursday. Although it will air on May 15, it has already taken place, with some bouts recorded at the same card as One on TNT 4 on April 28. These fights took place inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore, and there were five MMA matches and one muay Thai contest.

The event will be capped off by the heavyweight championship clash of Vera vs. Bhullar, with Vera putting his title on the line for the first time since 2018. “The Truth” won the inaugural heavyweight crown by knocking out Paul Cheng in 2015, defended it in 2016 by knocking out Hideki Sekine and did so once more by knocking out Mauro Cerilli in 2018. Vera attempted to fulfill the prophecy of his age-old claim that he would be a two-division champion by chasing Aung La N Sang’s light heavyweight (225-pound) title, but fell short in 2019.

Bhullar will be making his first appearance since 2019 as well – both Vera and Bhullar last competed on the same card of One: Century Part 2 – where he made his successful debut by winning a decision over Cerilli. The Indo-Canadian fighter left the Ultimate Fighting Championship of his own accord in 2019 on a two-fight win streak, where Bhullar beat the likes of Juan Adams, Marcelo Golm and Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira. Bhullar’s lone career defeat came against Adam Wieczorek, where he was forced to tap to the first heavyweight omoplata in UFC history.

Additional bouts include a previously recorded muay Thai match between Tawanchai PK.Saenchai Muaythaigym and Sean Clancy at the One bantamweight division of 145 pounds. This clash took place in February, but the promotion held on to the footage to release until a later date. At the One atomweight category (115 pounds), Bi Nguyen (5-6) will take on Ritu Phogat (4-0), although Phogat was previously booked against Meng Bo in the One: Empower atomweight tournament. It is unclear if she will compete in both matches, if the organization has replaced her, or this will serve as the opening to the tournament altogether.

In at 125-pound catchweight contest, Ayaka Miura (10-3, 1 NC) will meet Rayane Marques Bastos (4-0-1) in a match, like the muay Thai tilt mentioned above, actually was filmed on Feb. 28 as part of the “Fists of Fury” series. Gurdarshan Mangat (15-3) will fight with One for the first time since 2019 when he squares off with Roshan Mainam Luwang (6-2) at a catchweight of 143 pounds; Mangat was previously slated to face Geje Eustaquio at 135 pounds, and it has not been stated what happened to that pairing. The event will begin with another catchweight fight at 127 pounds, once more with a bout that was held in February, between Anthony Do (7-4) and Hui Liang (5-6-1).

One: Dangal will be aired on May 15, although it was partially recorded on April 28 in the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The event will be shown on the One Championship YouTube page as well as the One Super App.