Rising heavyweight star Arjan "Singh" Bhullar has the chance to make history in his next ONE Championship bout.
If he defeats reigning ONE heavyweight champion Brandon "The Truth" Vera, Bhullar becomes the first mixed martial arts world champion from India.
The highly-anticipated bout will headline ONE: Dangal, a tape-delayed event from the Singapore Indoor Stadium that airs on Saturday, May 15.
"Being a world champion is the most important to me and the fact that I have the ability to make history and be the first (mixed martial arts world champion) in India is very, very important," said Bhullar.
"One, [it is important] for myself and my legacy, and two, for the next generation to wake up and other wrestlers and martial artists from India to understand that this is possible for them," he added.
Beating Vera is easier said than done, however. The Filipino-American fighter has held the ONE heavyweight belt since December 2015, when he trounced Paul Cheng at ONE: Spirit of Champions in front of a partisan crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
He has since defended the heavyweight belt twice, with neither fight going past the first round. Vera's lone loss in ONE Championship came when he challenged Aung La N Sang for the light heavyweight belt.
Bhullar is confident that his game plan will be effective against Vera, however.
"He's going to try to keep me at range. He's going to use his kicks. He's going to switch stances. He's going to be on his back foot. He might come forward a little bit, but that's what he prefers. He is going to try to stay off the cage," said Bhullar, a London Olympian and Commonwealth Games 2010 gold medalist.
"I'm going to come forward. I'm going to cut him off. I'm going to keep it inside of the kicking range. I'm going to hit him in the face early and often and he's going to either stand there and get hit or he's going to back up into the cage," he guaranteed.
"I'm going to mix in takedowns within that and we are going to do that all night for 25 minutes. We'll see how long he lasts," he added.
ONE: Dangal features a host of Indian martial arts stars who aim to showcase the very best that their country has to offer. Other Indian athletes scheduled for action include atomweight phenom Ritu "The Indian Tigress" Phogat, Gurdarshan "Saint Lion" Mangat, and Roshan Mainam.
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