ONE World Welterweight Champion Ben Askren (14-0) returns to Manila after a bizarre outing during ONE Valor of Champions against Luis “Sapo” Santos.
Last April at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, the undefeated ONE champion faced Santos in the main event of the evening. After just two minutes and 19 seconds, the match was called to halt due to an inadvertent eye poke by “Funky” on Santos. The rematch set last November was scrapped as well after Santos missed weight.
After one year, Askren makes his return to the ONE cage facing 25 year old Russian Nikolay Aleksakhin in the main event for ONE: Global Rivals on April 15, 2016 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
“I look forward to facing Aleksakhin. He has a good record and looks like a tough opponent,” Askren said to Adam Hill of Review Journal. “That being said I expect nothing short of domination.”
Askren is currently 2-0-1NC in ONE Championship, 14-0-1 in his career. On the other hand, Alksakhin is 16-3 in his MMA career.
The Russian is on a six fight winning streak that includes a third round submission win against Burenzorig Batmunkh in ONE: Dynasty of Champions.
Will Funky continue his dominant run or will Aleksakhin be the one to solve the Askren puzzle? Sound-off in our comments section below
