The tabulator looks at the weighing scale as Luis Santos steps on. One Championship |
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SINGAPORE--MMA fans looking to witness the "conclusion" of the One Championship welterweight championship match between Ben Askren and Luis Santos may need to wait some more time.
Or maybe, they might not need to wait at all.
The much-anticipated rematch of their April 24 showdown which was cut short by an eye accident and eventually turned to a no contest was scrapped off the scheduled Pride of Lions event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday night as it was the Brazilian fighter's turn to virtually call it a no contest at the weigh-in.
Santos, known as "Sapo", failed to make the 170-pound limit during the weigh-in on Thursday night, coming in at 172.
On the other hand, Askren, who accidentally poked Santos in their first meeting in the Philippines that led to the no contest rule, made the cut at 169.5.
One president Victor Cui then revealed that Askren still wanted to make the supposed main event of the fight card happen, offering Santos to a 190-pound catch weight, but Santos declined.
"I'm completely disgusted. Sapo fails to make weight then despite Askren offering a fight at 190lbs the next day, Sapo still refuses to even try to attempt making 190lbs. For a World Championship title, watched by a billion viewers around the world, where Sapo had months to prepare, this is one of the most unprofessional things I have ever seen," Cui reacted about the recent events on his Facebook account, hinting that the rematch may not happen at all in the future.
The said development elevated the other championship fight in the fixtures, the strawweight title battle between Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke and Yago Bryan, to main event status. Both fighters made weight at 114.5 and 116.5 pounds respectively.
The three fights involving Filipinos are good to go as well as Edward Kelly (144.5), Jimmy Yabo (144.5), and Natalie Hills (114) all made weight for their respective battles.
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