Former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren steamrolled Nobutatsu Suzuki at ONE FC: Reign of Champions minutes ago, taking just a minute-and-a-half to score a TKO victory and capture championship gold.
LIVE RESULT: @BenAskren beats Nobutatsu Suzuki by first round TKO to become the new Welterweight World Champion #ONEFC #ONEFightNight
— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) August 29, 2014
After the former Olympic-level wrestler scored a takedown seconds into the bout, Askren had no problem maintaining top position before unleashing about 30 seconds of vicious ground-and-pound.
The referee stoppage, which can be viewed here in GIF form courtesy of Zombie Prophet, appeared to be a late one, as Suzuki offered no resistance other than trying to protect his face with his arms.
With the victory, “Funky” improved his unbeaten record to 14-0, scoring finishes in his last four matchups.
Suzuki is now just 2-2 in his past four contests with the quick defeat to Askren, winning the inaugural ONE FC welterweight title against Brock Larson back in March.
Askren was released from his Bellator contract back in November and seemed to be a shoo-in to sign with the UFC, as MMA Junkie reported.
However, UFC President Dana White said he didn’t think Askren was a great draw (per MMA Fighting) for his welterweight division, so Askren opted for a two-year, six-fight ONE FC Contract instead, per Yahoo Sports.
ONE FC did not immediately announce what its upcoming plans are for Askren, though the promotion’s newest title-holder has fought only twice this year and took essentially no damage in either fight.
He made his ONE FC debut in May, submitting Bakhtiyar Abbasov with an arm-triangle choke in the bout’s opening frame.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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