MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-American Brandon Vera can defend his ONE Championship Heavyweight belt as soon as he is ready amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The contender? Olympic wrestler Arjan Bhullar.
"Before the pandemic, both Arjan Bhullar and Brandon Vera had agreed to fight, so I think that's still on the table, still on the cards," ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong told Philstar.com in an interview.
"The minute Brandon and Arjan are ready to fight, we will set up that fight," he said.
Vera had recently welcomed a son with his wife in Guam, the Singapore-based promotion is giving the Fil-Am fighter some time to get used to fatherhood before calling him up.
"But of course Brandon just had a baby and we want to be respectful to his time but once he's ready to fight again, we will put Arjan Bhullar vs Brandon Vera," Sityodtong said.
Since first taking the belt in 2015, Vera has successfully defended his title twice against Hideki Sekine and Mauro Cerilli, respectively.
Bhullar's ONE debut fight was against Cerilli, where he won via unanimous decision last October 2019.