ONE Championship MMA continued to build its profile Friday with the ONE Championship 26: Valor of Champions card, but the event didn't exactly leave fans satisfied.
The huge main event between ONE Championship Welterweight titleholder Ben Askren and Luis Santos didn't feature a decisive result as it was ruled a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke.
Although the headliner didn't necessarily deliver, the eight-bout event at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, certainly had its high points.
Here is a full rundown of the results, including further analysis regarding what occurred in the main event.
Results
Ben Askren vs. Luis Santos
While Valor of Champions played host to several intriguing fights, there is no question that ONE Championship placed essentially all of its eggs in one basket. The welterweight championship bout between Askren and Santos was supposed to be a big-time affair, but it was never really able to get going.
Askren, who entered the fight with an unblemished record of 14-0, was favored to defeat the Brazilian veteran who had an incredible 71 career professional fights to his credit prior to Friday's encounter.
There was a great deal of intrigue surrounding the matchup due to bad blood between the competitors, and Askren intended to dominate his opponent, according to Shaun Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com:
I'm excited to beat him up. Because the funny way that Bellator worked, every season there was eight new welterweights and they were trying to get one of them to fight me, right? So every season eight welterweights would say, 'Ben Askren sucks, I'm going to kick his (expletive).' And then every season, seven of them would look like idiots because they wouldn't even get to fight me because they weren't good enough. Luis Santos is one of those guys. ... So you know, I'm going to have to go put the hammer on him and make him look stupid for the comments he made in the past.
Despite Askren's declaration, things weren't going his way out of the gates as the former United States Olympic wrestler struggled to take Santos down.
Per Mike Bohn of MMAJunkie.com, it was Santos who was able to gain positioning early in the fight:
Although it was early, the 35-year-old veteran appeared to be winning the bout when he took an inadvertent thumb to the eye. It was determined that Santos could not continue, and it was subsequently ruled a no-contest.
After the decision, Askren wasn't pleased, according to Al-Shatti:
Per Al-Shatti, Askren gave off the impression that Santos attempted to weasel his way out of the fight in some way:
That seems unlikely since Santos was actually ahead at the time of the eye poke, but things certainly could have changed in a hurry over the course of five rounds.
The fight won't technically go on Askren's record, but there is now an asterisk of sorts attached to his 14-0 mark. Until he atones for what happened Friday, it is likely that pundits will question his status as a top welterweight.
Based on the manner in which the title bout ended, though, it would appear to be a near certainty that Askren and Santos haven't seen the last of each other.
Mark Striegl vs. Casey Suire
There was a lot riding on submission expert Mark Striegl's clash with Casey Suire Friday at ONE Championship 26, and the Filipino fan favorite didn't disappoint as he won in convincing fashion.
Striegl moved to 14-1 with 12 of those victories coming by way of submission, while his American opponent suffered the first loss of his career.
Not only did Striegl have the added pressure of fighting in front of his fellow countrymen, but it was also his debut fight for the promotion, according to Tiebreaker Times:
Some may have folded under so many expectations, but they didn't appear to bother Striegl one bit. There was never any doubt regarding his ability to outfox Suire, and he was ultimately able to lock in his patented rear-naked choke for the win.
Geje Eustaquio vs. Anatpong Bunrad
Perhaps the most competitive and controversial Valor of Champions matchup aside from the main event took place in the flyweight division as Anatpong Bunrad upended Geje Eustaquio via split decision.
The two combatants were quite evenly matched throughout the fight as neither was able to gain a true upper hand. It could have gone either way, but the decision ultimately went against the hometown favorite.
When the 28-year-old Thai fighter was announced as the winner, the Filipino crowd was none too pleased, according to Stephen J. Rivers of LastWordOnSports.com:
The victory made Bunrad 5-1, and it furthered the slide of Eustaquio, who has now lost three of his last five fights.
Eugene Toquero vs. Brianata Rosadhi
The flyweight bout between Eugene Toquero and Brianata Rosadhi looked extremely one-sided on paper, and it held true to form as Toquero dominated his Indonesian counterpart.
It was obvious from the very beginning that the Filipino star had a game plan as he was immediately able to take down Rosadhi and set him up for a world of hurt, according to Bramono Lunardi of IndonesiaMMA.com:
Rosadhi was never able to re-establish himself as he fought off submission attempts and absorbed strikes for much of the first round.
It was inevitable that Toquero would eventually end it, and that is precisely what he did to bring his excellent professional record to 7-1.
Edward Kelly vs. Jimmy Yabo
Although Friday's event was chock-full of knockouts, the featherweight contest between Edward Kelly and Jimmy Yabo featured a bit more technical acumen.
Kelly shined in front of the Filipino faithful as he managed to lock in a rear-naked choke near the end of the first round, which Yabo had no choice but to submit to.
It was the first defeat of Yabo's career, while Kelly snapped a two-fight losing streak and improved to 6-2 with the impressive submission maneuver.
Amir Khan vs. Bashir Ahmad
The name Amir Khan is synonymous with boxing, but a different Amir Khan is starting to make a name for himself in the world of MMA as he defeated Bashir Ahmad at ONE Championship 26.
The featherweight from Singapore was dominant, especially from the second round on. Some of that may have had to do with the fact that Ahmad suffered a cut, according to The MMA Corner:
That, coupled with Khan's relentless assault, resulted in the doctor deciding to halt the fight in the third round.
The win pushed Khan's record to 3-1 and undoubtedly sets him up for some bigger fights with the promotion moving forward.
Xiao Yang Liu vs. Nicholas Lee
The flyweight clash between Xiao Yang Liu and Nicholas Lee certainly wasn't lengthy, but it featured some fireworks that got the fans out of their seats.
Liu was on the offensive from the very start and managed to knock Lee out cold in the first round with a right hook.
According to Tiebreaker Times, that led to Lee being helped from the ring by medical personnel:
Liu improved to 2-2 in his young professional career, and there is no doubt that it was the 23-year-old's biggest win yet.
Ya Wei Wang vs. Sunoto Peringkat
The card kicked off with an exciting featherweight battle between Ya Wei Wang and Sunoto Peringkat. The latter was a replacement for Tsu Notto, but the change didn't seem to impact Wang.
The 21-year-old fighter from China overcame his Indonesian opponent and stopped the fight in the third round by virtue of some rapid-fire punches.
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