Combat sports have a long and rich history in the great city of Manila, Philippines, and that legacy continues on Friday for a stacked MMA card at the ONE Championship 26: Valor of Champions event.
Headlined by a welterweight title bout between Ben "Funky" Askren and veteran fighter Luis "Sapo" Santos, ONE Championship 26 promises to bring plenty of MMA action to those in Canada who are willing to catch the event bleary-eyed early on Friday morning.
The ONE Championship organization has taken Asian mixed martial arts by storm, bringing the excitement of the hugely popular sport to ever-growing audiences.
With eight total fights set for ONE Championship 26, there should be plenty of ground-and-pound, kicks and flying fisticuffs for fans to take in.
Here's a look at the crucial event information, along with a complete fight card and predictions for each bout.
ONE Championship 26 Schedule, TV Info
Date: Friday, April 24
Time (ET): 7:30 a.m. ET
Location: SM Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines
TV: Fight Network (exclusively in Canada, per FightNetwork.com)
Live Stream: ONEFC.com (purchase required)
Fight Card, Predictions
Without the media access and presence that comes with UFC cards, casual fight fans can be forgiven if they've overlooked Askren as a force in the world of mixed martial arts.
The American with an extensive wrestling background was part of the Bellator promotion but has since signed a long-term contract with ONE Championship, per MMAWeekly.com (h/t Yahoo Sports). He appears to be enjoying the travel even if it means missing out on fighting stateside: "I’m not really thinking about fighting in the U.S. again because right now I am having a blast traveling the world and kicking butt. I have trained my whole life to be able to do what I do, so it is awesome to be able to showcase that in front of huge crowds around the world."
Askren's reputation as a top-notch fighter has followed him to the Philippines and ONE Championship 26, where he is set to make his first title defense against Santos.
Still undefeated in his career, Askren is ranked No. 5 in the MMA Junkie/USA Today rankings; he's one of only two fighters in the top 12 of that list who are not under the UFC banner.
The 30-year-old's wrestling background has equipped him with excellent grappling and submission skills, although he's recently taken to making opponents pay with his striking. Currently on a four-fight stoppage streak, Askren earned his ONE Championship welterweight title with a TKO on strikes against Nobutatsu Suzuki in August 2014.
While Askren is no doubt a talented fighter, his opponent Santos might still hold an advantage over him in the striking department. The deeply experienced Santos is on a seven-fight win streak, with all of them stoppages and six of them via either TKO or KO, per Sherdog.com. The Brazilian has a robust 35 KOs in his long and winding career, and he should prove to be a tough opponent to surprise or overwhelm on the canvas.
Askren is the rising star and should take this fight. A dominant win over Santos might have some wondering if he should try to move to a higher-profile pond, such as the UFC. Per Sherdog.com's Trula Howe, Askren one day has aspirations of fighting Johny Hendricks.
“It doesn’t matter if Hendricks has a belt or not,” Askren said, per Howe, “I’d like to fight him, for sure.”
However, Howe notes that the idea of some sort of co-promoted, possible unification-style bout may not be something fans should look forward to in the near future: "Even with ONE Championship expanding and the UFC making inroads in South Korea, Japan and the Philippines, the idea of the two sides cooperating with one another seems far-fetched at best."
Still, the idea of an American star displaying some of the greatest fighting prowess in the world has to intrigue fans across the globe and make them wonder if there isn't a way for the promotional fiefdoms to come together.
Greater cooperation would be a boon for fans, and the talks of dream matchups would abound, but it's likely that outfits such as ONE Championship will have to gather even more prestige and momentum before those fantasies become a reality.
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