Ben Askren will put his ONE FC title on the line in April.
The undefeated welterweight, who won the ONE FC 170-pound gold after finishing Nobutatsu Suzuki in 84 seconds in August, will clash fellow Bellator veteran Luis Santos in the main event of ONE FC 27 on April 24 in Manila, Philippines.
I guess it has been linked, but just so everyone knows I will be giving Luis “Sapo” Santos a beating on April 24. @ONEFCMMA
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) 20 janeiro 2015
Askren (14-0) returns to the ONE FC cage after scoring back-to-back first-round finishes in 2014. Before joining the Asian promotion, the decorated wrestler went 9-0 under the Bellator banner, with five of those wins coming in title fights.
A welterweight fighter from American Top Team, Santos (61-9-1) earned a shot at the ONE FC title after dispatching Bakhtiyar Abbasov with a knee to the body in 53 in his promotional debut, increasing his winning streak to seven with six first-round stoppages.
“It’s going to be a tough fight for both of us,” Santos told MMAFighting.com. “I have a good takedown defense and I’m working on getting better in my muay thai and jiu-jitsu. I will have enough time to train and put all of it in practice on fight night because I have great training partners at American Top Team.”
ONE FC 27 takes place at the SM MOA Arena in Manila, Philippines.