Ben Askren excited and determined to remain ONE FC Welterweight World Champion in Manila this April.
27 January 2015
2014 proved to be a groundbreaking year for current ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren. After signing with Asia’s largest mixed martial arts organization last year, he made his heavily-anticipated debut by trouncing Azerbaijani Bakhtiyar Abbasov after Abbasov made the mistake of engaging the Olympic wrestler on the ground. Askren easily worked his way to top position before sinking in a choke that forced Abbasov to tap out.
Askren then followed it up by snatching the ONE FC Welterweight World Championship crown from Nobutatsu Suzuki with a convincing finish of Nobutatsu Suzuki. The former champion had no chance as Askren took him down and rained down a series of punches that forced the referee to stop the fight. With his hand raised and the belt around his waist, Askren confidently boasted that nobody in the welterweight division will beat him.
Now into the second year of his ONE FC journey, Ben Askren is determined to hold on to the coveted championship. When asked about his thoughts on the year ahead, Askren had this to say, “2015 is going to be the year of Ben. I will defeat anybody they put in front of me and rule over the welterweight division!”
The confident champion also has his sights set on competing in several cities across Asia. He stated, “With ONE FC’s huge footprint across all of Asia, I want to be able to compete all across the continent. The crowds in Singapore and Dubai are amazing and I would love to fight for them again! I want to go to Kuala Lumpur and Manila as well, and it would be great to fight somewhere in mainland China!”
A bevy of world-class welterweights are lining up to get a shot at the throne, including Luis Santos, who would be next in line. Santos will meet Askren in the main event at ONE FC’s upcoming event in Manila this April. Askren delivered this statement, “I’m the ONE FC Welterweight World Champion, and if any welterweight in the world think they can beat me, they can meet me inside the cage!”
Photo Courtesy of http://isportsweb.com/
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