Ben Askren is a former UFC fighter. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
Ben Askren is confident of beating Jake Paul in a boxing match but a wrestling one would be something else
Ben Askren was the latest guest on the MMA Fighting podcast. Askren shocked the world by confirming a battle against YouTuber Jake Paul.
This won’t be an MMA fight but a boxing one and Paul is 2-0 in his career. Askren isn’t known as a boxer but he still believes in himself.
The MMA star claimed he would get a TKO in the seventh round but a wrestling match would be something else.
Askren ribbed the Paul brothers by confirming that the pair went to his wrestling school a while back, and claimed he would defeat Jake in a few seconds:
“Wrestling would be interesting. I would pin him in 10 seconds.”
He was then asked if he could extend the match a little more. However, Askren claimed that if he did so, he would be accused of faking the fight.
Askren was undefeated in his MMA career before Jorge Masvidal’s infamous knee. The wrestling star then took some time off to deal with a hip injury and it was a bit of a surprise that he was back for fighting.
Askren hadn’t fought for a while and was asked if this meant that he was feeling good enough to return to fighting.
Funky claimed that he was feeling good but wasn’t making a full-time return to fighting:
“I am feeling great but I didn’t say when I retired. I said I will never be a full-time fighter but if something interesting comes up, I will be willing to accept that and this falls into that category, I think.”
However, Askren also turned down the possibility of being a full-time boxer and would only fight when the right opportunity came for him:
“I am not going to be a full-time boxer but I got an interesting opportunity and I am going to take advantage of it.”
Askren added that boxing was way less strenuous on the body when compared to wrestling or MMA too. He added that boxing had a few aspects to look into and master but that was nothing compared to what all had to be checked out in MMA like submissions, striking, elbows and more.
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