In photos: The history of ONE Championship's welterweight world title

Christian Lee, the reigning ONE lightweight world champion, will challenge Kiamrian Abbasov for the ONE welterweight world title in the main event of ONE on Prime Video 4. The event will go down on November 18 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

So far, there have been four fighters who’ve held welterweight gold, and Abbasov is now tasked with defending the throne against the marauding Lee.

Lee is trying to achieve double-champ status against Abbasov, who’s now reigned as welterweight champ for more than a thousand days. Before that historic world title match takes place in the Lion City, we take a look back at the lineage of the ONE welterweight world title.

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Nobutatsu Suzuki starts the royal line

Nobutatsu Suzuki following his world title win [Photo: ONE Championship]

Japanese star Nobutatsu Suzuki was only in his second fight in ONE Championship when he got the opportunity to fight for the inaugural ONE welterweight world title. The man Suzuki had to beat to reach that goal was the battle-hardened Brock Larson.

Watch the fight highlights below:

Kuala Lumpur was the site of the landmark world title fight at ONE: War of Nations in March 2014, and Suzuki made sure he was walking out of the circle with the belt in tow.

Although Larson managed to land a successful takedown in the opening round, the win ultimately belonged to Suzuki. The Karateka tagged the American relentlessly throughout the match to get a comfortable unanimous decision win.

Suzuki’s welterweight world title reign, however, didn’t last long. Another American was about to take the belt away from him.

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Ben Askren's dominance

Ben Askren (left) celebrates his win over Nobutatsu Suzuki (right) [Photo: ONE Championship]

Like Suzuki, Ben Askren was only in his second match in the promotion when he got a crack at the ONE welterweight world title. 'Funky' didn’t waste any time in establishing himself as the best fighter in the division.

Askren was utterly dominant at ONE: Reign of Champions in August 2014, and he had the Dubai crowd on the edge of their seats during the contest. The former Olympian used his elite wrestling to take Suzuki down to the mat and bludgeoned the Japanese star en route to a first-round finish.

Askren then successfully defended the title four times against Nikolay Aleksakhin, Agilan Thani, Zebaztian Kadestam, and Japanese legend Shinya Aoki.

His dominant run, however, ended when he knocked out Aoki at ONE: Immortal Pursuit in November 2017. He headed into semi-retirement after the bout, leaving the ONE welterweight world title vacant.

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Zebaztian Kadestam claims the vacant throne

Zebaztian Kadestam holds his world title after his win [Photo: ONE Championship]

ONE welterweight throne remained without a king for almost a year after Askren left, but his former foe slowly made the climb to the seat he had vacated.

Zebaztian Kadestam scored a third-round knockout of Agilan Thani at ONE: Pursuit of Power in July 2018. His emphatic win set him up for a world title match against American fighter Tyler McGuire at ONE: Warrior’s Dream four months later.

The welterweight world title fight was far from a stormy affair during the first three rounds. However, Kadestam knew that his striking would dictate things in championship rounds.

Kadestam hunted down McGuire in the fourth round and tagged the American with hard shots throughout the round. The Swedish striker continued his charge in the fifth and toppled McGuire with a booming right overhand that ended the bout with barely a minute left.

Kadestam then chalked up a successful world title defence when he knocked out Georgiy Kichigin at ONE: Reign of Valor in March 2019. Kadestam’s time at the top, though, was about to come to an end. A new challenger was gradually marching towards what was his.

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Kiamrian Abbasov gets the welterweight world title

Kiamrian Abbasov gets his hand raised after defeating Zebaztian Kadestam for the world title [Photo: ONE Championship]

Kiamrian Abbasov’s path to the ONE world title wasn’t the easiest one.

After falling short in his debut fight against Luis Santos, Abbasov submitted Agilan Thani at ONE: Destiny of Champions in December 2018. Abbasov then knocked out Japanese icon Yushin Okami in the second round of their bout at ONE: For Honor in May 2019.

His strong outings against Okami and Agilan eventually pushed Abbasov to a fight against then-reigning welterweight king Zebaztian Kadestam. It was to be held at ONE: Dawn of Valor in October 2019.

To say that Abbasov was dominant in the title fight would be an understatement. ‘Brazen’ manhandled Kadestam in every aspect of MMA, dealing unholy damage through five rounds.

Abbasov’s first welterweight world title defence was also as spectacular as any high-profile fight in ONE Championship.

James Nakashima challenged Abbasov for the ONE welterweight world title at ONE: Inside the Matrix II in November 2020. It seemed that Nakashima had the match under his control up until the fourth round.

Abbasov, out of nowhere, clocked Nakashima with a right knee that staggered the American fighter. With the challenger backpedalling, Abbasov went in for the kill and scored a knockout win.