Replay: Remembering ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren’s Fight for the Title

ONE welterweight champion Ben “Funky” Askren has a terrifying professional record of 15-0 as a mix martial artist. Beyond that, the champion defended his belt from 18-5 Nikolay Aleksakhin at ONE: Global Rivals in April of last year.

Askren went the distance with Aleksakhin, winning by unanimous decision in the end.

One of Askren’s shorter bouts, ironically, was his initial fight for the title. Askren went up against former welterweight champion Nobutatsu Suzuki at ONE: Reign of Champions in August of 2014 for the welterweight title.

Askren defeated the former champion by TKO in the very first round.

Nobutatsu was nearly immediately defeated in the fight, as Askren almost effortlessly achieved a takedown at the beginning of the bout.

Following up with a flurry of ground and pound, Askren swiftly achieved the stoppage by TKO.

Askren is only Nobutatsu’s second loss in his career, as the former champion is currently 11-2 in the division.