Victor Cui: Ben Askren Likely to Defend One Championship Welterweight Title in December

Ben Askren will likely defend his welterweight crown on Dec. 17 at Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, One Championship CEO Victor Cui revealed in an interview with The Independent. A challenger was not named, though Askren has unfinished business with Luis Santos.

The unbeaten Askren last fought at One Championship “Global Warriors” on April 15, as he retained his title with a five-round unanimous decision over Nikolay Aleksakhin. A four-time NCAA All-American wrestler and two-time national champion at the University of Missouri, Askren competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing before shifting gears to MMA. The 32-year-old Hartland, Wisconsin, native holds victories over former International Fight League titleholder Jay Hieron and onetime Bellator MMA champions Lyman Good, Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov. Askren splits his training between the Roufusport camp in Milwaukee and Evolve MMA in Singapore, near One Championship headquarters.

Santos gave Askren fits in their brief April 2015 encounter. However, an inadvertent eye poke left the Brazilian unable to continue and resulted in a no-contest 2:19 into the first round. Santos, 36, has not lost a fight in more than four years.