Watch: Arjan Singh Bhullar shares Daniel Cormier's video message congratulating him on title win
ONE FC heavyweight champion Arjan Singh Bhullar shared Daniel Cormier's congratulatory video message to him on social media. Cormier is Bhullar's teammate at the famed American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) and the pair have trained together during their wrestling days. The Canadian-Indian fighter attributes a lot of his success in MMA to the work ethic he learned from Cormier.
In the video uploaded on Arjan Singh Bhullar's Instagram account, Daniel Cormier congratulated his teammate via a video message from Houston. Bhullar created history by becoming the first Indian-origin MMA world champion. He ended former champion Brendan Vera's title reign by a second-round TKO at ONE Championship: Dangal, on May 15. Cormier congratulated Bhullar for his achievements and welcomed him to the AKA's champion's club.
Arjan Singh Bhullar is the latest addition to the list of champions produced by the American Kickboxing Academy. The gym is home to some of the most dominant champions in major MMA promotions, the UFC and erstwhile StrikeForce. Bhullar was brought to AKA as former UFC champion Daniel Cormier's wrestling partner ahead of DC's first fight against Jon Jones. He has trained at the San Jose-based gym since and has risen to championship status in a major MMA organization.
Before making the transition to Singapore-based ONE FC, Arjan Singh Bhullar fought in the UFC where he held a respectable 3-1 record.
Arjan Singh Bhullar became the first fighter to bring the championship gold to AKA after Khabib's retirement
Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov's retirement in October 2020 left the American Kickboxing Academy without an MMA world champion for the first time in almost a decade. Khabib was AKA's flagbearer after Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, and Luke Rockhold's title loss/retirement.
UFC lightweight Islam Makhachev was considered the frontrunner to bring a major MMA world title back to AKA. But 34-year-old Bhullar turned out to be the first one to do the job for his camp.
As for Bhullar's plans following the title win, the champion expressed his desire to fight South Korean Kang Ji Won for the first defense of his title and also put the pro-wrestlers on notice.
"There is a Korean heavyweight (Kang Ji Won) out there, who shut up a loudmouth recently. I call him the Iranian killer. He beat two of them in one month. I believe he should be the guy who takes this next. That's the one who I'd like to face," Arjan Singh Bhullar said.