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Former UFC welterweight Ben Askren has never knocked anyone out on the feet but he did get knocked out cold in just five seconds when he fought Jorge 'Gamebred' Masvidal at UFC 239.
'Funky' is known for his world-class wrestling skills, takedowns, and ground and pound victories inside the cage. His boxing skills can be rated as basic and he used them only to catch his opponents off-guard instead of trying to knock them out. He would fake a takedown attempt and unleash a right overhand shot to stun his opponents sometimes and that's about it when it comes to Askren's boxing chops.
In fact, Askren's lack of striking skills often drew flak from a wide section of the audience who claimed that the ONE Welterweight Champion was a boring fighter. Ben Askren has six TKO victories in his entire career and all of them have come from the ground.
Over the years, Ben Askren improved his ground and pound skills a lot, and his strategy for most fights would be to land a takedown and then maul his opponents on the ground. However, in a boxing match, there are no takedowns.
It is now known to most people that Ben Askren is going to fight YouTube star Jake Paul in an exhibition boxing match on April 17. He will be representing the MMA community in the fight but his boxing skills haven't been able to convince people that he will get his hand raised against Paul.
What are Ben Askren's chances of defeating Jake Paul?
Although we haven't seen Askren's boxing skills inside the octagon, it is safe to presume that he won't be a walk in the park for Jake Paul. Askren was a professional fighter, an ex-Olympian, and undefeated in 19 straight fights so he surely does know a thing or two about throwing hands.
His opponent Jake Paul has just two fights under his belt and none of them were against professional fighters. He's only beaten a fellow YouTuber and a former basketball player. Therefore, even though Askren isn't the best of strikers, he still has a good chance of beating Jake Paul in the fight.
Ben Askren remains confident that he will knockout the YouTuber-turned-boxer in their upcoming fight and he's even called the round in which he will knock out Paul. Askren claimed that a rude awakening awaits Paul once he steps inside the ring to fight in April.
However, he also admitted that it would take him longer to KO Paul because he doesn't have a lot of power in his hands. So he claims that he'll wear Paul down until the recently turned pro-boxer can't take it anymore.
"TKO round seven.Yeah, because I don’t have a huge amount of power. So, it’d take me some time to wear him down and make him hate his life. And then, you know, eventually, he’ll just say look, ‘I’m a rich celebrity. I don’t need to get f**king punched anymore. I’m just gonna roll over’.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
While Ben Askren was humble in predicting the outcome of the fight, his opponent Jake Paul claimed that he will knockout Askren faster than Jorge Masvidal did.
