“I am not announcing my retirement from the sport of wrestling, because I will continue to wrestle until the day my heart stops beating. I am instead, announcing my arrival into MMA, and my intentions to get to the very top of the sport as a professional athlete,” said Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and Olympian Arjan Bhullar.
By R. Paul Dhillon
RICHMOND – Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and Olympian Arjan Bhullar made it official this week that he intends to seek a career in the Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) game.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon at Richmond’s Dynamic MMA gym, Bhullar said while wrestling has been his life and will remain so, he has decided to go for it all in the action-packed, kick-ass sport of MMA
“Although I have had considerable success as an Olympic wrestler, I feel my skill set will be perfect for the opportunities that have been presented to me currently in MMA,” Bhullar said.
“Being the first Sikh to represent Canada in freestyle wrestling at the Olympics, I now want to be the first world champion in MMA.”
He said the sport of wrestling has been his life and he will continue to stay involved at every level.
“I am not announcing my retirement from the sport of wrestling, because I will continue to wrestle until the day my heart stops beating. I am instead, announcing my arrival into MMA, and my intentions to get to the very top of the sport as a professional athlete,” he said.
“I have been thinking about this since before the Olympics. Wrestling has a long and storied and successful past in the sport of MMA. Many wrestlers I trained with, and competed against have already made the transition to MMA successfully, and some are at the highest levels of the sport. Why not me?”
Bhullar started out recreationally after the Olympics, and started to enjoy it quite a bit. He said now he is in love with the sport, and excited for the future.
“There is tremendous opportunity in this for me….there is no Indian doing this at a high level right now, I know I can be that guy so I’m excited to prove it to myself as well as everybody else. I think that would be huge for our community. I always try to reach beyond Sport, and be more than just an athlete. I think this will give me a bigger audience, in order for me to inspire more people and create positive change in the world,” he said.
Bhullar also gave a big thank you to the Sohal family of California, who has supported him and are backing him in MMA.
“I have been down to San Jose several times already to train at the American Kickboxing Academy (#1 gym in the world, has some of the best fighters including UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez). They have taken me into their home as their own son and have helped me out big time. I would not be able to pursue this without their help,” he said.
The Sohal family has been very involved and successful in California and within our community. They are a very old family in the community. They spear headed the development of the San Jose gurdwara (biggest in North America) against much initial opposition. They have been very involved with both wrestling and kabaddi as well, having competed in the sport of wrestling and supported kabaddi (taking the USA team to the world cup in India).
