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| One Championship (file photo) |
MANILA--Despite his opponent sporting an unbeaten MMA record, Nikolay Aleksakhin thinks Ben Askren is an overrated fighter.
Aleksakhin said about the current One welterweight champion, "Wrestling is his one and only strength, he is a boring fighter to watch. He has a very weak striking technique. I would like to play on that."
Askren quickly countered his opponent's claim, saying, "He’s not an elite striker. I face strikers who are twice as good as him on a daily basis at practice. He is not as good of a wrestler as me. Hell, I’ll let him take me down! He can take me down all he wants because once we get on the ground he’s in my world,"
Both Aleksakhin and Askren will face off in the main event of One: Global Rivals on April 15 at the Mall of Asia Arena, and for the former, taking the latter's title belt will mean a lot.
Aleksakhin thinks, "I am a showman, I like exciting fighters and want to win beautifully. It is the most important fight in my career so far. To win against Ben Askren means to move a level up and to demonstrate it to the whole world."
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
Askren quickly countered his opponent's claim, saying, "He’s not an elite striker. I face strikers who are twice as good as him on a daily basis at practice. He is not as good of a wrestler as me. Hell, I’ll let him take me down! He can take me down all he wants because once we get on the ground he’s in my world,"
Both Aleksakhin and Askren will face off in the main event of One: Global Rivals on April 15 at the Mall of Asia Arena, and for the former, taking the latter's title belt will mean a lot.
Aleksakhin thinks, "I am a showman, I like exciting fighters and want to win beautifully. It is the most important fight in my career so far. To win against Ben Askren means to move a level up and to demonstrate it to the whole world."
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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