ONE FC 16 took place on Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren won his ONE FC debut with an arm-triangle choke submission in the first round against Bakhtiyar Abbasov.
The fight got off to a shocking start as Abbasov took Askren to the ground and began to look for a submission. Askren would defend the submission, reverse the position and start to dominate Abbasov.
Askren would throw countless short strikes on the ground and the referee asked Abbasov several times if he wanted to continue.
The short strikes by Askren would open up the opportunity for a submission and he went for the arm-triangle choke. Once he had the choke locked in, Abbasov immediately tapped.
Askren (13-0) has now won three fights in a row by stoppage and this is his first submission win since submitting Ryan Thomas in 2010 at Bellator 14. His next fight in ONE FC will be against current welterweight champion Nobutatsu Suzuki and that fight will likely take place later this year.
Latoel upsets Ng with a first round stoppage
The co-main event of the fight card was a lightweight bout as Vincent Latoel pulled off an upset as he finished Eddie Ng by TKO in the first round.
As the fight opened, Ng looked to get the fight to the ground and Latoel was able to keep the fight on the fight. The referee would end up separating the fighters and they began to have a striking contest.
Latoel would end up landing a right hand that rocked Ng and followed it up with several strikes on the ground. The referee would end up stopping the fight, even though it looked like Ng recovered. Following the end of the fight, Ng would not say whether he agreed or disagreed with the stoppage as he would just say that the referee is in there to protect the fighters.
Lotoel (15-14-2) has now won two of his last three fights and this is his sixth career win by TKO/KO. The defeat for Ng (7-2) snaps a five fight winning streak and both of his career defeats have come by TKO/KO.
Fodor hands Ni his seventh straight defeat
Former Strikeforce lightweight Caros Fodor improved to 2-1 in ONE FC with a kimura submission victory over Willy Ni in the first round.
Ni would get off to a good start by locking in a guillotine choke but Fodor would be able to defend the submission and get top position on the ground. He would use his striking to set up a kimura submission attmept and Ni would tap out to the submission.
Fodor (9-4) now has four wins coming by submission and it’s his first stoppage victory since defeating Justin Wilcox by TKO in 2011 in Strikeforce. Ni (15-9) has now dropped seven fights in a row and all of those defeats have come by submission.
The complete ONE FC 16 Results are below.
Main Card: (iPPV)
Ben Askren def. Bakhtiyar Abbasov via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:21
Vincent Latoel def. Eddie Ng via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:16
Jadamba Narantungalag def. Honorio Banario via unanimous decision
Caros Fodor def. Willy Ni via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:29
Major Overall def. Bruno Pucci via KO (soccer kick) – Round 1, 2:52
Chi Lewis Parry vs. Alain Ngalani declared a no contest (accidental groin strike)
Radeem Rahman def. Raymond Tan via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:46
Preliminary Card: (iPPV)
Nik Harris def. Brad Robinson via split decision
Casey Suire def. Stephen Langdown via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:19