Canada's KB Bhullar (8-0) earned a short-notice call-up to square off against England's Tom Breese (11-2) in a middleweight clash at UFC on ESPN+ 37, staged on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, Dubai this Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Bengali fighter recalled getting word of the matchup from his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, and while he welcomed the chance, he was hardly caught off guard.
"I'm not taken aback at all," Bhullar told MMA Empire. "I figured this moment would come. It's simply the next rung on the ladder."
"At the end of the day, it's just another cage fight. You don't get caught up in the spectacle of it being a big stage. You treat it like what it is—a cage fight—and prepare accordingly. Don't put things on pedestals. Just do what you've trained to do."
Had everything gone according to plan, Bhullar would have stepped onto the middleweight card at Dana White's Contender Series (DWCS), facing Bruno Oliveira on the Nov. 4 episode. Before signing that contract, though, several other opportunities fell apart.
Throughout the shifting landscape of fight bookings, Bhullar said he kept his eyes on the task at hand rather than worrying about venue or opponent.
"Over the last year, there was plenty of chatter about a UFC signing," he said. "Rumors swirled about a potential fight at UFC Boston last October, then Contender Series came up in June with Jordan Wright, and before that it was the Jordan Williams bout at Unified MMA."
"With everything changing, I just focused on preparing for the fight itself. Three five-minute rounds of mixed martial arts—that's all it comes down to. I don't spend time dwelling on the promotional side of things."
Bhullar Coming Off a Grueling Five-Round War
His most recent cage appearance was a unanimous-decision victory over UFC vet Matt Dwyer at Unified MMA 38 in September 2019. That win also handed Bhullar the Unified MMA middleweight championship.
Only once before in his career had Bhullar gone the distance—the rest of his victories came via first-round stoppage. He called the five-round scrap with Dwyer an invaluable lesson.
"The Dwyer fight was an incredible learning experience," Bhullar said. "It proved to me that I can survive a war and come out on top, even when the pressure mounts."
"A 25-minute battle like that is priceless. Dwyer is a tough son of a gun—he's made of iron. I landed strikes that ended up in photos, and my shin basically drove right through his midsection. You could see half my shin poking through his abdomen, and he took it like a true champion."
Next up, Bhullar faces the biggest challenge of his career in Breese—a seasoned UFC competitor with six appearances in the octagon, winning four of those bouts.
Bhullar admitted he doesn't know much about Breese's game plan, but remains confident in his own abilities.
"I don't know a whole lot about him, and honestly, I don't care," Bhullar said. "I just have to trust my instincts."
"I've got a natural killer instinct, and I just need to let it run wild. My skills will speak for themselves. I'm not concerned about him."
Bhullar's Shoutouts
"I'd like to thank my coaches (Jeff Montemurro, Keijiro Noda). It's an honour to represent Little Sweatshop and Frank Lee's. I'd also like to thank my friends and my family." Follow Bhullar on social media: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM
