Marc Goddard slams conspiracy theorists over Jake Paul’s KO of Ben Askren

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4 years ago

Marc Goddard

UFC Referee Marc Goddard slammed people calling out the referee for calling off the fight too early, as Jake Paul earned a huge first round KO win over Ben Askren.

Jake Paul vs Ben Askren just concluded at the Merecedes-Bank Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and what a win it was for the YouTube sensation. Jake Paul earned a first-round KO victory against MMA’s very own Ben Askren.

Ben Askren of United States celebrates after defeating Agilan Thani of Malaysia in the welterweight world championship bout during the One Championship Dynasty of Heroes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on May 26, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

Taking on a combat sports athlete for the first time, in his third professional match, Paul knocked out Ben Askren with a vicious right hook in the very first round of their fight. Askren did beat the referee’s count but the fight was called off as the referee felt Askren couldn’t continue.

However, a lot of fight fans, especially the ones backing Askren, felt that the referee was wrong and shouldn’t have waved the fight off that early. The referee is in fact being ripped apart on social media, currently.

Jake Paul looks on after defeating AnEsonGib in a first round knockout during their fight at Meridian at Island Gardens on January 30, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

In the wake of this, renowned UFC referee Marc Goddard stepped in Tweeting that there was nothing wrong with the referee’s call and that the referee was only preventing a ‘forgone conclusion’.

Here is what he had to say :

“The referee made the right call for Ben Askren. No work. No conspiracy. No one was “in on it”. Just a referee preventing a forgone conclusion. We don’t always need to see a kill shot.”

Here is the footage of Paul knocking out Askren:

Is it high time that Jake Paul faced a pro-boxer?

Jake Paul’s first two fights were against non-combat sports athletes. The first one was against fellow YouTuber AnesonGib and the next against Ex-Basketballer Nate Robinson. Askren was his first opponent who was a combat sports athlete.

However, Funky Ben is not a pro-boxer, having a legion of experience in wrestling and grappling, but not in striking. And, given Paul’s first round KO against Askren, it looks like the ‘Problem Child’ will ease past anyone who is not a professional boxer.

Soon after his victory, there was a widespread outcry for Paul to take on a professional boxer, which might be the only way to test his strengths.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith made his opinion known:

“See, this has to stop. @jakepaul is not some scrub. He’s a pro now. Askren, even though he’s a @ufc fighter, is a grappler. Not a boxer. So why was he even in the damn ring? From now on, Paul needs to fight an actual boxer. He’s gonna hurt any non-boxer.”