Kiamrian Abbasov’s quest to become a two-division ONE champion came up short Friday – well short.
In the ONE Championship: Full Circle main event, middleweight and light heavyweight champion Reinier de Ridder (15-0) retained his middleweight belt with a third-round submission of welterweight champ Abbasov (23-5), who had moved up to try to become a dual titleholder.
De Ridder took Abbasov down early in the first round. He omved to side control and unleashed ground and pound for much of the opening frame. In the second, it was more of the same. Late in the round, de Ridder worked for an arm-triangle choke and nearly got the finish, but Abbasov survived to see the third.
