ONE FC 16 results: Ben Askren submits Bakhtiyar Abbasov in promotional debut

Despite a brief scare in the opening seconds of the fight, Ben Askren (13-0) kept his undefeated record intact with a first-round submission of Bakhtiyar Abbasov (11-3) in today’s ONE FC 16 headliner at Singapore Indoor Arena.

In the bout, which streamed in North America as an online pay-per-view, Abbasov surprised Askren when he shot for a takedown in the first 10 seconds of the contest. While that’s an impressive feat in itself, the move ultimately led to his demise. Askren, an Olympian and former Bellator MMA welterweight champion, quickly reversed position and began to tee off with a ground-and-pound attack.

While Abbasov absorbed a commendable amount of damage, he eventually succumbed to the pressure and submitted to the arm-triangle choke at the 4:21 mark of Round 1.

Askren was expected to challenge for the ONE FC welterweight title in his promotional debut, but the fight failed to come to fruition. However, following his victory over Abbasov, the 29-year-old made it clear he still wants that matchup with a callout of 170-pound champion Nobutatsu Suzuki (11-1-2).

“Suzuki is going to bring me my belt,” Askren said in his post-fight interview. “He can put it in the middle of the cage and give it to me, or I can take it the hard way.”

Latoel shocks, upsets hometown favorite Ng in co-main event

While the stoppage was somewhat questionable, Vincent Latoel (15-14-2) pulled off the event’s shocker when he upset Singapore’s Eddie Ng (7-2) by first-round knockout in the co-main event.

Ng fought with a strict game plan in the first few minutes of the bout. He relentlessly pursued the takedown in open space and against the cage. Latoel showed up with sharp defense, though, and he kept the fight on the feet until he could create separation to strike. The 35-year-old Dutchman found an opening for his strikes, knocked down Ng, and finished the job in the dramatic fashion.

Some boos followed referee Yuji Shimada’s stoppage, which came at the 3:16 mark of Round 1. However in his post-fight interview, Ng commended Shimada for protecting the athletes and asked the displeased crowd to respect the referee’s decision.

Narantungalag outworks former ONE FC champion

Jadambaa Narantungalag (9-3) continued to push Honorio Banario (8-4) on his post-title slide as he handed the former ONE FC featherweight champion his third loss in a row since capturing the belt in early 2013.

While Banario was knocked out in the previous two defeats, he was more competitive this time around as he pushed Narantungalag the distance before losing a clear unanimous decision.

Narantungalag had a bit of a slow start, but his cardio remained strong over three rounds. Banario’s, meanwhile, did not. Moreover, Narantungalag’s pace and output – two factors that proved to be a major contributor to his victory – were better than his opponent’s.

Fodor hands Ni his seventh straight defeat

Aside from an early guillotine-choke attempt, Willy Ni (15-9) had nothing to offer former UFC and Strikeforce fighter Caros Fodor (9-4) in their lightweight contest.

Once Fodor escaped the submission attempt, he dominated from top position and gradually advanced position. Ni had previously suffered 75 percent of his career losses by submission, and once he made a mistake, Fodor upped that percentage with a textbook kimura finish.

Overall scores with soccer-kick KO

Major Overall (5-1) handed Bruno Pucci (3-1) his first professional defeat, and it was a devastating one.

Pucci had his moments in the brief contest, but he was eventually knocked down and promptly received a perfectly placed soccer kick to the jaw courtesy of Overall.

Pucci was out cold from the kick, and the fight was waved off at the 2:52 mark of the opening frame.

Parry-Ngalani ends in low blow

An accidental low blow caused a quick ending to a potentially exciting heavyweight bout between Chi Lewis Parry (5-0) and Alain Ngalani (1-1). Powerful exchanges kicked off the contest, but it didn’t take long for one of Parry’s kicks to stray low.

Ngalani was in significant pain from the blow, and even with the standard five-minute recovery period, “The Panther” was unable to continue, and the bout was ruled a no-contest.

Rahman rallies in main-card opener

After more than two years of inactivity, Radeem Rahman (2-0) returned to the ONE FC cage to earn a thrilling comeback victory over Raymond Tan (2-2) in the first main-card bout.

Tan had a quick start to the fight when he knocked down Rahman on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capitalize and allowed Rahman to shake off his rust and get back in the fight.

The Singapore native turned the tide with his takedowns, and once he achieved mount, a flurry of strikes forced the referee to call off the action.

Official ONE FC 16 results included:

MAIN CARD (Online pay-per-view)

• Ben Askren def. Bakhtiyar Abbasov via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 4:21
• Vincent Latoel def. Eddie Ng via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:16
• Jadambaa Narantungalag def. Honorio Banario via unanimous decision
• Caros Fodor def. Willy Ni via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:29
• Major Overall def. Bruno Pucci via KO (soccer kick) – Round 1, 2:52
• Chi Lewis Parry vs. Alain Ngalani ends in a no-contest (accidental low blow)
• Radeem Rahman def. Raymond Tan via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:46

PRELIMINARY CARD (Online pay-per-view)

For more on ONE FC 16, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(All .gifs courtesy @Internetican)