Ben Askren may have retained his ONE welterweight title, but not in a way he would've liked. Askren's main event fight against Luis Santos at ONE Championship 26 ended in bizarre fashion on Friday night in Manila, Philippines, being ruled a no contest due to an Askren thumb in the eye after a lengthy and largely frustrating deliberation period midway through the first round.
The ending was particularly unfortunate because up until that point, Santos (61-9-1, 1 NC) was giving Askren (14-0, 1 NC) the toughest challenge the American has faced in years, successfully sprawling out of five takedown attempts and even reversing two more.