Ben Askren of the US, poses at a gym in Phnom Penh on May 15, 2014. Askren visited Cambodia on May 15, as part of his five city Asia media workout tour to talk about his upcoming fight. Askren will make his ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) mixed martial arts debut in the main event of ONE FC: HONOR & GLORY, which is set to take place in Singapore on May 30. He will be facing top European contender Bakhtiyar Abbasov in a bout set to pit two of the best welterweights in the world against each other, according to ONE FC. AFP PHOTO/TANG CHHIN SOTHY (Photo credit should read TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images)
Ben Askren compared his recent first round KO loss against Jake Paul to 5-second KO loss against Jorge Masvidal.
Askren made his pro boxing debut against YouTube sensation Jake Paul at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, last Saturday.
The former UFC welterweight was knocked in the first round, under 2 minutes, handing the Problem Child his third consecutive victory in his pro boxing career. His loss came as a huge disappointment to the MMA community, as Askren had them unanimously vouching for him.
Fans also raised a lot of concern going into the fight, as Askren looked completely out of shape during the weigh-ins. And their fears came true, as Funky couldn’t even get past the first round.
However, despite his loss, he made a good amount of cash, as he pocketed around 500 thousand USD for a matter of just 2 minutes.
More recently, Askren spoke to Ariel Helwani of ESPN MMA, where he addressed his recent knockout loss to the former Disney star, while also comparing it with the 5-second KO loss against Jorge Masvidal, in only his second UFC fight.
Askren said, despite the Masvidal fight mattering a lot a more, both the losses were equally embarrassing.
Funky had the following to say about both the losses:
“The only reason I would not taken the [Jake Paul] fight- the one and only reason- actually happened. The reason is the ability to have an embarrassing moment and that’s a terrible reason not to do it…The Masvidal mattered a lot to more to me, but just from an embarrassing standpoint, they’re probably equally as embarrassing.”
That’s not the start one would have wanted to have in their pro-boxing debut, but Askren is a man of many talents, and hopefully he can bounce back.
Popular sports journalist Stephen A. Smith was left fuming with the way Askren showed up to the fight.
He claimed that he was not impressed with Jake Paul’s vicious KO, not because of something he had against the YouTuber; instead, it was the way Funky Ben showed up – completely out of shape and laidback.
Smith tweeted:
“I’m not impressed with @JakePaul‘s KO. But not because of him. It’s because of who showed up in the ring against him”
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