Heavyweight mixed martial artist Arjan Bhullar, 31, will make his UFC debut at UFC 216 in September when he takes on Luis Henrique. Bhullar, an Olympic wrestling standout from Canada currently holds a perfect 6-0 MMA record. He is of Indian Sikh descent and is the first fighter of South Asian descent to sign with the UFC.
“To be able to break this glass ceiling for my community is huge,” said Bhullar. “I will proudly represent the Maple Leaf and be the ambassador for over 1.7 billion South Asians,” Bhullar announced on his Facebook fan page in May when signed to the UFC.
Although Bhullar did not earn a medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2012 Olympics, he did win gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and bronze at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. He was eliminated in the second round at the Olympics. Bhullar wrestled at 265 pounds (120 kilograms).
Bhullar attended and wrestled at Simon Fraser University where he became a two-time national champion and was named SFU Athlete of the Year in 2008. He also made Canada’s senior national wrestling team and was named Canadian Wrestler of the Year in 2009. He is currently working as a wrestling coach at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Tale of the Tape
The fighter competing out of Vancouver went pro in MMA in 2014 and has racked up six wins, most recently a unanimous decision win over Joey Yager in April.
All of his fights came under the Battlefield Fight League (BFL) banner as well as Hard Knocks Promotion. Bhullar captured the BFL heavyweight title in his third pro fight after knocking out Blake Nash in the second round at BFL 39. He trains at Adam Ryan's Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA in Vancouver.
Bhullar's opponent, Luis Henrique is fighting out of Brazil and holds a pro record of 10-3 and one no-contest.
Henrique is eight years younger than Bhullar. He is coming off a TKO loss to Marcin Tybura in March. Before that, Henrique had back-to-back submission wins in the UFC over Christian Columbo and Dmitry Smolyakov. He lost his UFC debut against Frenchman Francis N'Gannou in 2015.
UFC 216
The fight will be held at the Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The main event fight has not yet been announced, but confirmed fights include:
- Wilson Reis vs. Henry Cejudo
- Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Sarah Moras
- Gavin Tucker vs. Rick Glenn
- Luis Henrique vs. Arjan Bhullar
UFC 216 will be available for purchase on pay-per-view following preliminary bouts on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
