RAGING BHULL
Richmond’s Arjan Bhullar isn’t content with becoming the first Indian fighter in the UFC. He’s made history, but now he’s all about his legacy: to ‘proudly represent the Maple Leaf and be the ambassador for over 1.7 billion South Asians’
The akhara walls are lined with history.
Faded pictures and newspaper clippings are collected in frames, hanging next to plaques, posters and tournament brackets drawn out on Bristol board that is now frayed at the edges and grey.
An impressive trophy stands tall in the corner, the meeting point of two low-profile benches that bring back memories of elementary school gymnasiums. A large mace — called a gada — sits on a shelf, the pictures surrounding it all featuring men with serious expressions brandishing similar clubs; champions posing with their prizes.
Individually, they are snapshots in time; a podium finish here, a tournament victory there, a sepia-tone notes package written by then-Province sportswriter Terry Bell — but collectively, the memories trace the rich history the Bhullar family has with wrestling and serve as the prologue to the legacy Arjan Bhullar wants to leave behind.
“Accolades and accomplishments are always going to be surpassed — that’s the way it is — but I think the impression you leave on people, that’s your lasting legacy, and I’m huge on legacy,” said Bhullar, whose numerous achievements on the wrestling mats are part of the expansive collection lining the walls of the family gym in Richmond.
There are plaques from his standout career at Simon Fraser University, memorabilia from his gold-medal triumph at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and a poster from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London where an intense, focused Bhullar appears capable of peering into your soul should your gaze linger too long.
The newest pictures in the collection depict the 31-year-old’s transition to mixed martial arts.
A fight poster from one of his headlining turns with Battlefield Fight League is paired with a mounted image of Bhullar standing triumphant in the centre of the cage on the night he claimed the Vancouver-based promotion’s heavyweight title; the belt itself sits on the mantle inside his home.
The next picture to find its way into the collage of memories adorning the walls is sure to come from his debut inside the UFC Octagon.
Getting the call to compete at the highest level in the sport is a tremendous personal accomplishment for Bhullar, but the humble, unbeaten heavyweight prefers to affix the spotlight that comes with arriving on the biggest stage in the sport on the impact his UFC journey can have on the South Asian community instead.
“To be able to break this glass ceiling for my community is huge,” said Bhullar, who became the first fighter of South Asian descent to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship last week.
In announcing his signing on social media last week, Bhullar said that he will “proudly represent the Maple Leaf and be the ambassador for over 1.7 billion South Asians,” adding that he “fully (appreciates) the significance of this moment.”
It is that readiness to represent both sides of his heritage and his continued willingness to serve as a positive role model for the South Asian community that makes this news about something far more than the UFC adding an unbeaten heavyweight prospect to its ranks.
“I think his biggest gift is that he wants to give back,” said Satwinder Bains, Director of the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies at University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, where Bhullar coaches the wrestling team.
“The best thing, that I feel, is that he’s doing it right now. He’s not waiting for ‘when I retire, I will do this and this and this.’ He’s doing it right now, and I think that’s the greatest gift that anybody can give to anyone.
“I’m really proud that he’s able to do that because kids are really confused about their identities,” she added.
“A lot of times, people go through their entire education without meeting someone that looks like them in a position of power, who can speak to their personal experiences.”
That reality is part of what made Bhullar want to be a mentor and a positive role in the first place and remains at the core of his efforts today.
“My mom would drop us off at the library and I would read books, biographies on great champions and there’s no Indians in those books,” laughed the 31-year-old Richmond native.
“That’s why I grew up idolizing Muhammad Ali — I read so much of his stuff and what he did for his people beyond the sport.
“I’ve got the talent that I do and the opportunity that I have, how could I not leverage that?” he pointed out.
“It would be a shame for everyone that supported me over the years and helped me get to this point not to do that.”