Undefeated heavyweight Arjan Bhullar made his promotional debut at UFC 215, defeating Luis Henrique by unanimous decision.
India is a country that the UFC hasn’t made much headway in to over the years and Bhullar is looking to change all that.
“There’s over 1 billion in India – there’s over 3 billion around the world,” Bhullar said after the event. “But obviously, China and India reign supreme when it comes to markets, not only for the UFC, but any major sport is trying to crack the market. NHL can’t do it – there’s no ice. NFL can’t do it because the equipment won’t make sense for those kids, and the game, they don’t understand. NBA has a chance, but they have no athletes. This is the one the people will understand. It’s a hybrid of wrestling. I want to crack that market for them and be the first, for sure, because the people want it.”
Bhullar was supposed to have WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jinder Mahal walk him to the cage, but the wrestling champion was unable to make the show due to Hurricane Irma. Mahal is of Indian descent and is helping the WWE make waves in the country of India in the same way Bhullar hopes to with the UFC.
The UFC has run a total of 410 events as of this writing and they have yet to run an event in the country of India. The promotion also has 14 events scheduled for the remained of 2017 and none of those events are happening in India either.
