Ben Askren officially scratched from ONE Championship 32 after opponent misses weight

Ben Askren and Luis Santos

Ben Askren waited seven months for his welterweight rematch with Luis Santos. Just hours before the fight, however, he found out it’s not going to happen.

After Santos missed weight by two pounds on Thursday, today’s ONE Championship 32 welterweight championship main event was downgraded to a non-title affair. Askren (14-0) demanded Santos (61-9-1) weigh in again on fight day at no more than 190 pounds, but the Brazilian failed to meet the requirements.

Due to Santos’ inability to keep his weight under the allotted threshold, the originally scheduled headliner of the card at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore will no longer take place.

ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui announced the news on Twitter. He said he was “disgusted” by the actions of Santos and accused him of being “scared” to face Askren.

The rematch between Askren and Santos was meant to bring a decisive conclusion to their rivalry after the pair fought to a controversial no-contest at ONE Championship 26 in April.

After finding some success against Askren early in the first round, Santos received an accidental eye poke from “Funky.” He spent several minutes in the cage assessing his ability to continue but ultimately decided he was unable to fight on.

Understandably disappointed by the situation, Askren expressed his frustration with Santos on social media.

With the loss of the main event, ONE Championship 32 will go forward with an eight-fight card headlined by a non-title bout between flyweight champ Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (5-0) and Yago Bryan Farias de Morais (3-0).

For more on ONE Championship 32, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.