Ben Askren celebrates after defeating Bakhtiyar Abbasov during OneFC Honor & Glory. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
Retired MMA fighter Ben Askren casts shadow of doubt over fight with Jake Paul
Earlier this week, former MMA fighter Ben Askren accepted an ‘invitation’ to fight YouTuber-turned-professional boxer Jake Paul.
‘Funky’ even set a date on the fight as he indicated his intention of making easy money by fighting Jake Paul in March 2021.
MMA fans doubted if the former Bellator champion could box out Jake Paul in a professional boxing match. Askren retired in November 2019 after successive UFC losses which included a 5-second knockout to Jorge Masvidal.
However, UFC legend Chael Sonnen disagreed with that notion and ridiculed anyone who thought Askren would lose to Jake.
But just as the fight was building up, Ben Askren has stated that he thinks the fight is “off”.
Askren took to his Twitter account to post a video where he announced that Jake Paul is backing out of a potential fight next year.
Funky, who is driving his car while shooting the video, starts off by recapping the whole situation. He recalls that it was Jake Paul who called him out, and now that Askren has responded, Jake has gone silent.
He ends the video by saying “sorry guys the fight is off”. Now, we are no mind readers but it seems like Askren could be trying to incite Paul into making the fight official.
There has been no noise from Jake’s corner ever since Askren confirmed his intention to fight. And now, maybe, Askren sees his chance of a big-money fight disappearing.
Or, he just wants to silence Jake Paul and prove that he still has some game left in him. Whatever the reason, MMA fans on Twitter just refuse to give Askren an easy time.
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