One of the most anticipated matchups in ONE Championship history is coming in two months.
Ben Askren will defend his welterweight title against Luis Santos in a main event rematch at ONE: Pride of Lions on Nov. 13 in Singapore, officials from the Asian promotion confirmed with MMA Fighting on Tuesday night. The Las Vegas Review-Journal was the first to report the news.
Askren and Santos fought in April and the bout ended in bizarre fashion. Santos, the Brazilian underdog, was winning in the first round and avoiding Askren's takedown attempts. Then, as Askren was beginning to rally, he accidentally poked Santos in the eye. Santos was unable to continue and the fight was ruled a no contest at 2:19.
It was the first blemish on the record of Askren (14-0, 1 NC), the former Bellator welterweight champion and one of the best 170-pounders in the world. The former wrestling Olympian owns victories in his career over Lyman Good and Douglas Lima. He won the ONE title in August 2014 and successfully defended it once. The popular Askren, 31, trains out of Roufusport in Milwaukee, but does parts of his training camp at Evolve MMA in Singapore.
Santos (61-9-1, 1 NC), also a Bellator veteran, has won seven in a row. The durable fighter has been an MMA pro since 2000. He was undoubtedly Askren's toughest test in ONE over the first few minutes of the first bout.
No other bouts have been announced yet for ONE: Pride of Lions. ONE Championships is based out of Singapore and was founded in 2011. It has become Asia's biggest MMA organization over the last four years.