ONE Welterweight Champion Ben Askren is not happy about his next title fight being in the co-main event.
Askren is scheduled to defend his title against undefeated prospect Agilan Thani at ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes. In the main event, ONE Women’s Atomweight Champion Angela Lee will defend her title against Istela Nunes.
“I kind of think it’s a bad thing, but I don’t really care that much,” Askren told MMAjunkie. “I think most people would be highly offended by it. Why? Because I’ve put how many years into this sport? When I was winning my Bellator title, she was 12 or something. I put a lot of time into this sport and with these female fighters, they’ve burst on the scene with a bunch of wins really fast. It is a certain way sexist that the women get more attention quickly. If we think about how fast (Ronda) Rousey came up and some of these other women. There’s very few male equivalents.”
Both Askren and Lee are undefeated. Lee is undefeated with seven wins, while Askren has 15. Askren made his MMA debut back in 2009. He is also a former Bellator welterweight champion. Lee made her debut in 2015, and all of her fights have been in ONE Championship.
ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes will take place Friday, May 26 in Singapore.
