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Ben Askren to defend ONE Championship welterweight title on April 15 in Manila

Ben Askren's next fight is booked for Manila. The former Bellator MMA champ will be defending his welterweight strap against Nikolay Aleksakhin at ONE: "Global Rivals" on April 15th.

The event is set for the SM Mall of Asia Arena and the Philippines will become the fifth different country to host a ONE Championship card in 2016.

ONE CEO Victor Cui says he is excited to be back in Manila.

"We’re always excited for Manila because Filipino fans are so passionate about mixed martial arts that everything just comes naturally! The atmosphere and the excitement in Manila on fight night is truly unparalleled and we anticipate the same when we arrive in April.