ONE Championship: Heroes of the Empire - Askren vs. Kadestam - September 2 (OFFICIAL DISCUSSION)

One FC  59
September 2, 2017
Shanghai Oriental Sports Center
Shanghai, China

Main Card:
Ben Askren (16-0)      vs.        (9-3) Zebaztian Kadestam  
Main Event |  Title Fight | Welteweight | 170 lbs (77 kg)

Ben Askren will be back in action on Sept. 2 at ONE: Heroes of the Empire. The welterweight champion is set to defend his title against Swedish challenger Zebastian Kadestam at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Centre in Shanghai, China.

Askren (16-0-0-1) probably expected to find himself rematching Luis Santos this year. But Kadestam (9-3) took the Brazilian out of the title picture with a devastating onslaught of knees in his ONE Championship debut earlier this year.

Askren last defended his title back in May. He submitted Agilan Thani in the first round of their title fight.

Kadestam (9-3) is a former PXC welterweight champion who won six fights out of six for the Guam based promotion.  He is known for his striking and is a long term training partner of ONE Championship veteran Ole Laursen.

Kadestam is coming off a knockout win over Luis Santos back in May. Overall, Kadestam has an MMA record of 9-3 with seven of his wins coming by knockout or TKO.

I wonder how many fights Askren has left with ONE. i'd like to see him in Rizin and Bellator.

Gotdangit, ONE. Stop holding events in Shanghai, while I'm stuck here in America!

So, it looks like they are giving the fight to this guy cause he knocked out Santos. Fair enough. Askren'll beat him, though.

Hamilcar wrote:Gotdangit, ONE.  Stop holding events in Shanghai, while I'm stuck here in America!

So, it looks like they are giving the fight to this guy cause he knocked out Santos.  Fair enough.  Askren'll beat him, though.

Yeah, he earned it with the Santos win.