Arjan Bhullar’s embarrassing DQ loss at ONE 166 draws criticism from CEO Chatri Sityodtong: ‘This one is unacceptable’

Arjan BhullarReferee Herb Dean disqualified Arjan Bhullar in the final minute of his ONE 166 clash with Greco-Roman Wrestling champion…

Arjan Bhullar

Referee Herb Dean disqualified Arjan Bhullar in the final minute of his ONE 166 clash with Greco-Roman Wrestling champion Amir Aliakbari.

Stepping into a potential title eliminator, ‘Singh’ refused to engage for as long as the fight was allowed to continue. Bhullar, who was ONE’s heavyweight world champion just two fights ago, was content to move backward for a majority of the contest, dancing around the cage wall and offering little in the way of offense. The slow pace prompted multiple warnings from Dean that went unacknowledged.

In the second round, patience was beginning to wear thin with Dean issuing not one, but two yellow cards.

For those unfamiliar, ONE Championship uses a yellow card system to penalize fighters for a number of infractions, including fouls — i.e. low blows, eye pokes — and for stalling, as was the case with Bhullar. Each yellow card serves as a warning, but it also deducts a percentage of the fighter’s total purse. After two yellow cards, the next one issued is a red card which results in a disqualification.

Bhullar was given two yellow cards in the second round, but after continuously failing to engage, Dean broke out the red card with just 45 seconds left in the third and final round, ensuring Arjan Bhullar would lose the contest.

Following the lackluster showing, ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong held absolutely nothing back, calling Bhullar an “embarrassment” to his home country of India.

“In thousands of fights, I have never been embarrassed,” Sityodtong said in a post-fight press conference. “We’ve had one red card in history. I never speak ill of fighters. I never speak ill of our fighters, ever. Rarely, but this one is unacceptable. I think maybe in the first round he threw one punch. Second round he threw two punches. He ran the whole time and it was very clear he was scared.

“If you want to be a professional fighter, fighting the best in the world at the highest levels… We were live broadcast in India with 1.3 billion people and it’s an embarrassment.”

Arjan Bhullar’s ONE Championship run has been frustrating, to say the least. After KO’ing Brandon Vera to win the ONE heavyweight title in May 2021, ‘Singh’ went more than two years without defending his gold as he sought to secure a more favorable contract. In June, he finally returned for a unification clash with interim titleholder Anatoly Malykhin, who dismantled him with ease.

Later on in the evening, Malykhin defeated Reinier de Ridder for the ONE middleweight title, making him the first-ever simultaneous three-division champion in MMA history.

Shinya Aoki seemingly slams ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong at promotion’s latest event: ‘I really came to hate him’

Shinya Aoki and Chatri SityodtongThe relationship between Japanese MMA icon Shinya Aoki and ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong has seen better days. On…

Shinya Aoki and Chatri Sityodtong

The relationship between Japanese MMA icon Shinya Aoki and ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong has seen better days.

On Sunday, Aoki returned to the ring at ONE 165 in his home country expecting to square off with ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt. Instead, ‘Tobikan Judan’ ended up fighting former ONE bantamweight world champion John Lineker in a remarkably short-notice openweight MMA bout. Given their significant size difference and opposing skill sets, Aoki made quick work of Lineker, earning a first-round submission via neck crank.

Following the bout, Aoki spoke with ONE commentator Mitch Chilson in the ring where he was asked about why he accepted the fight with Lineker. “Since he asked me to, there was no other choice, but to do it,” Aoki said, the “he” referring to Sityodtong.

However, it appeared as though Aoki had said something else that the translator either missed altogether or chose to omit. According to X user @puraiya, the former ONE lightweight titleholder shared his disdain for the promotion’s founder in his comments to the live crowd.

“When my relationship to Chatri, a man I thought of as a friend, became one of “boss and employee”, I really came to f*cking hate him… but when that guy asks something of me, I guess I have no choice.”

We can’t confirm the 100% accuracy of the translation provided, but during Aoki’s post-fight interview, there was a very noticeable moment of awkward silence from the crowd, indicating that he had said something more than what the translator revealed.

Fans tuning in and sharing their thoughts on social media were seemingly clued into what Aoki was saying.

One wrote, “I love how much the translator was stuttering trying to figure out what to say,” while another added, “I realized the awkward silence of the crowd for a sec.”

Chatri Sityodtong Has a History of Disrespecting Japanese Fighters Despite Desperately Trying to Break into the Market

It’s unclear what the issue, if any, is between Aoki and Sityodtong, but could it have something to do with the CEO’s continued disrespect towards Japanese fighters as a whole.

“The biggest challenge for Japan is… If you look at the last several years, it doesn’t matter which discipline, Japanese fighters come into ONE and they get crushed,” Sityodtong said in a post-fight press conference. In order for ONE Championship to blow up in Japan, we need the best of the best in Japan — K-1, Rise, RIZIN — they’re the best in Japan, but when they come to ONE Championship, they lose. If you look at the Japanese record, there’s a lot of losses in ONE.”

Sityodtong also kickstarted a war of words with K-1 producer Carlos Kikuta after the ONE CEO shot down the possibility of co-promoting an event with K-1, saying, “It’s a tiny organization and the level is very low.”

Former Bellator Exec Says ONE Championship Has ‘Scammed Everybody They Could’ to Stay Afloat

ONE ChampionshipONE Championship’s future is once again in question. Earlier this month, a report from DealStreetAsia revealed that the Singapore-based…

ONE Championship

ONE Championship’s future is once again in question.

Earlier this month, a report from DealStreetAsia revealed that the Singapore-based promotion had made a new pitch to the Qatar Investment Authority in hopes of securing another round of funding. Qatar, a major investor of ONE, had reportedly contributed $50 million of a $150 million round of funding in 2021, so there’s nothing terribly unusual with ONE attempting to secure more investment capital from the government’s sovereign wealth fund.

However, that same report alleged that, according to one source, “ONE’s runway is expected to expire by Q3 of next year,” and that “the Qataris have been increasingly embarrassed about their involvement with ONE, which has been under the spotlight for its weak financials.”

ONE Championship’s financial status is often the source of confusion and controversy with founder and CEO Chatri Sityodtong often throwing out outlandish numbers that contradict its filings with Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Could ONE Championship Close Up Shop in 2024?

Former Bellator Executive, Mike Kogan recently shared his take on ONE Championship’s seemingly dire situation as he awaits news of his own future following the PFL’s acquisition of Bellator earlier this month.

“I’ve been at this sport for a long time,” Kogan said on The MMA Hour. “I don’t have it in me to start from scratch. There just isn’t anybody else. If you don’t go to PFL, obviously, I’m not getting hired by the UFC, ONE FC pissed away $600 million and is about to go out of business, where do you go?

“They’re gonna go out of business,” he continued. “These people scammed everybody they could scam. They’ve run out of people to scam. It’s the truth. I mean come on. 10 years. You can’t be a start-up for 10 years. Jesus Christ. At some point, you’ve got to start showing something.

“So, they’re gonna go out, so where’s there to go? There’s nowhere else to go. I’ve always said, this is like the largest small industry in the world. It’s big, it’s on TV, there’s millionaires being made, there’s all these stories, but at the end, it’s a handful of people that run it and a handful of people that have an ability to do anything with it.”

Kogan and the rest of the Bellator staff will all be offered new roles in PFL, according to the promotion’s founder, Donn Davis. The Bellator brand is expected to live on as an international offering, but all of the contracted athletes will be allowed to compete at PFL events, including in regular season tournaments.

A pay-per-view event featuring Bellator champions vs. PFL champions is expected to go down in 2024.

Michael Bisping snaps back at ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong: ‘He’s attacked the UFC’

Michael BispingMichael Bisping wants to see ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong put his best lightweight fighters against the UFC’s reigning division champion, Islam Makhachev. Bisping’s comments come on the heels of Sityodtong dubbing UFC strikers as “sloppy” and “mediocre-ish” while putting over his own product in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post. “What you […]

Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping wants to see ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong put his best lightweight fighters against the UFC’s reigning division champion, Islam Makhachev.

Bisping’s comments come on the heels of Sityodtong dubbing UFC strikers as “sloppy” and “mediocre-ish” while putting over his own product in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post.

“What you see in, let’s say the UFC, is very sloppy, mediocre-ish striking because they’re not strikers,” Sityodtong said. “A typical UFC fighter is a D-1 college wrestler, 7-0 in the minor leagues and then they do a little bit of striking then they enter the UFC. At ONE, all these are world champions before they arrive and they’re already multiple [time] world champions at their peak of their career when they arrive.”

Responding on his Believe You Me podcast, Michael Bisping understood that Sityodtong was simply trying to promote his company and his roster of world-class fighters, including Muay Thai sensation Rodtang Jitmuangnon.

“Yeah, I mean, first of all, he’s being a promoter,” Bisping said. “Fair play to him. He’s saying we got the better fighters, we got the better strikers, and so on and so forth. In doing so, he’s attacked the UFC and the quality of the fighters. Granted, Rodtang and some of the fighters he has mentioned, they’re phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.”

Bisping Challenges ONE Championship CEO to Bring His Best Lightweights

With that said, ‘The Count’ was more than ready to lay down a challenge, suggesting ONE Championship bring its best lightweight fighters and see how they do against the UFC’s reigning 155-pound monster, Islam Makhachev.

“Bring your best strikers over to the UFC and put them, they’ll be lightweights, put them up against Islam Makhachev and see what happens,” Bisping added. “Guaranteed they’ll be choked out pretty quickly” (h/t Sportskeeda).

ONE Championship’s current lightweight king is Christian Lee, the brother of recently retired atomweight queen Angela Lee.

Christian Lee has established himself as one of the promotion’s prolific finishers, amassing an impressive 17-4 record with a 94% finish rate, including 12 KOs and one submission. In his last outing, Lee scored a fourth-round knockout against Kiamrian Abbasov to claim the welterweight title and become a two-division champion under the ONE banner.

Who do you think would win in a fight between Christian Lee and Islam Makhachev?

Jon Jones blasts ‘Hater’ Chatri Sityodtong amid rift: ‘Without the UFC there would be no ONE Championship’

Jon Jones blasts 'hater' Chatri Sityodtong no one would watch ONE Championship without the UFCUndisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has hit out at ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong overnight on his official Instagram – claiming without the UFC, there would be no ONE Championship for the Singapore native to manage, before labelling him a “hater” amid recent comments about the Dana White-led organization. Jones, a former two-time undisputed […]

Jon Jones blasts 'hater' Chatri Sityodtong no one would watch ONE Championship without the UFC

Undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has hit out at ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong overnight on his official Instagram – claiming without the UFC, there would be no ONE Championship for the Singapore native to manage, before labelling him a “hater” amid recent comments about the Dana White-led organization.

Jones, a former two-time undisputed light heavyweight champion, is slated to headline UFC 295 in November at Madison Square Garden, taking on the returning former two-time heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight championship clash.

Sidelined until March of this year, Jones made a stunning three-year hiatus snapping return to combat sports with a spectacular first round submission win over former interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane, submitting the Frenchman with a first round guillotine choke to nab the vacant divisional crown. 

Sharing his thoughts on the talent pool available to him at ONE Championship compared to rival organization, UFC, the above-mentioned, Sityodtong claimed that many strikers under the North American-based promotional banner are more than “sloppy”.

“What you see in, let’s say the uFC, is very sloppy, mediocre-ish stirking because they’re not strikers,” Chatri Sityodtong said. “A typical UFC fighter is a D-1 college wrestler, 7-0 in the minor leagues and then they do a little bit of of striking then they enter the UFC. At ONE, all these are world champions before they arrive and they’re already multiple [times] world champions at the peak of their career when they arrive.”

Jon Jones hits out at ONE Championship boss, Chatri Sityodtong

And in response to Sityodtong, Jones came to the defense of the UFC, claiming Sityodtong’s outburst won’t do any favors in attracting viewers to ONE Championship

“Bro, this doesn’t make anybody want to watch your show any more,” Jon Jones replied. “You just sound like a hater. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners. Stay in your lane and do the best you can. Without the UFC there would be no ONE.” 

Do you agree with Jon Jones’ comments aimed at Chatri Sityodtong?

Jon Jones blasts ‘Hater’ Chatri Sityodtong amid rift: ‘Without the UFC there would be no ONE Championship’

Jon Jones blasts 'hater' Chatri Sityodtong no one would watch ONE Championship without the UFCUndisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has hit out at ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong overnight on his official Instagram – claiming without the UFC, there would be no ONE Championship for the Singapore native to manage, before labelling him a “hater” amid recent comments about the Dana White-led organization. Jones, a former two-time undisputed […]

Jon Jones blasts 'hater' Chatri Sityodtong no one would watch ONE Championship without the UFC

Undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones has hit out at ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong overnight on his official Instagram – claiming without the UFC, there would be no ONE Championship for the Singapore native to manage, before labelling him a “hater” amid recent comments about the Dana White-led organization.

Jones, a former two-time undisputed light heavyweight champion, is slated to headline UFC 295 in November at Madison Square Garden, taking on the returning former two-time heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic in a heavyweight championship clash.

Sidelined until March of this year, Jones made a stunning three-year hiatus snapping return to combat sports with a spectacular first round submission win over former interim heavyweight champion, Ciryl Gane, submitting the Frenchman with a first round guillotine choke to nab the vacant divisional crown. 

Sharing his thoughts on the talent pool available to him at ONE Championship compared to rival organization, UFC, the above-mentioned, Sityodtong claimed that many strikers under the North American-based promotional banner are more than “sloppy”.

“What you see in, let’s say the uFC, is very sloppy, mediocre-ish stirking because they’re not strikers,” Chatri Sityodtong said. “A typical UFC fighter is a D-1 college wrestler, 7-0 in the minor leagues and then they do a little bit of of striking then they enter the UFC. At ONE, all these are world champions before they arrive and they’re already multiple [times] world champions at the peak of their career when they arrive.”

Jon Jones hits out at ONE Championship boss, Chatri Sityodtong

And in response to Sityodtong, Jones came to the defense of the UFC, claiming Sityodtong’s outburst won’t do any favors in attracting viewers to ONE Championship

“Bro, this doesn’t make anybody want to watch your show any more,” Jon Jones replied. “You just sound like a hater. Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners. Stay in your lane and do the best you can. Without the UFC there would be no ONE.” 

Do you agree with Jon Jones’ comments aimed at Chatri Sityodtong?