MANILA, Philippines - ONE Championship decided to cancel the welterweight championship rematch between current titleholder Ben Askren and Luis Santos after the challenger failed to meet the contracted weight limit.
Santos struggled to make weight as he tipped the scales two pounds heavier than the welterweight perimeter of 170 at the official weigh-in on Thursday, November 12.
Askren, who easily weighed 169.5 pounds, was willing to face Santos as long as the Brazilian fighter would not exceed 190 pounds.
However, Santos did not meet the demand of Askren, prompting ONE officials to pull off the plug on the title tilt.
The aforementioned second meeting was originally penciled to headline ONE: Pride of Lions, which takes place at the 12,000-seater Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on Friday, November 13.
Askren had a score to settle with Santos following the controversial conclusion of their first encounter this past April.
"Funky" kept the belt around his waist, but not under the circumstances he would have wanted as the bout resulted into an anticlimactic no-contest.
Askren’s left thumb accidentally poked the right eye of Santos, causing the action to halt at 2:19 of the first round and rendering his foe unable to continue the scheduled five-round match.
Santos was giving Askren the toughest challenge that the former NCAA Division I wrestler has faced in years, successfully sprawling out of five takedown attempts and even reversing two more.
As a result of the unfortunate incident, the strawweight contest between Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and Yago Bryan Farias de Morais has been promoted to the main event.
Sor Amnuaysirichoke's ONE strawweight title was supposed to be on the line, but Bryan Farias de Morais was overweight as well. – Rappler.com