ONE Championship will crown its new welterweight champion on November 17, 2018 in the main event of “ONE: Warrior’s Dream” at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Competing for the vacant title are Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam, 28, of Sweden and Tyler McGuire, 32, of the United States.
Undefeated mixed martial artist Ben “Funky” Askren, 34, of the U.S. became the new ONE Welterweight World Champion on August 29, 2014. Before vacating the title on November 24, 2017, he successfully defended the title three times.
This does not include Askren’s bout against Luis “Sapo” Santos, 38, of Brazil on April 24, 2015 at “ONE: Valor of Champions” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bout ended in a No Contest.
The third ONE Championship fighter to unsuccessfully challenge Askren was Kadestam. The defending champion knocked out his Swedish challenger at “ONE: Championship: Shanghai” on September 2, 2017 at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.
Both Kadestam and McGuire are coming out of a win at “ONE: Pursuit of Power,” which took place at the Putra Indoor Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 13, 2018. This will be the second time the Swedish MMA fighter is facing an undefeated fighter in the ONE Championship cage.
In the co-main event of “ONE: Pursuit of Power,” McGuire defeated Santos via unanimous decision. It was the American fighter’s ONE Championship debut and the win improved his professional MMA record to 11 wins and 0 loss.
In the main event of “ONE: Pursuit of Power,” Kadestam knocked out Agilan “Alligator” Thani, 23, of Malaysia via punches and elbows. It improved the Swedish MMA fighter’s professional MMA record to 10 wins and 4 losses.
“ONE: Warrior’s Dream” will mark Kadestam’s fourth ONE Championship bout. His promotional debut took place at “ONE: Dynasty of Heroes” on May 26, 2017 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore, where he knocked out Santos.
Meanwhile, watch a “ONE: Pursuit of Power” recap by Michael Schiavello and Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson here:
CONAN Daily 