"He earned my respect" - Ben Askren praises Jake Paul despite believing that Tyron Woodley should have won the fight

Ben Askren presented his thoughts on the recently concluded Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley fight.

'Funky' took to Instagram to commend Jake Paul for his performance in his victory, saying:

"For me, I gave a lot of respect for Jake Paul. Now I know, he got TKO on me, but I knew I wasn't very good at boxing. I told all of you that like, 'I'm not a very good boxer, I just think I'm better than he is', okay? So when he got a knockdown on me, whatever... he earned my respect."

The former Bellator welterweight champion also explained why he thought his friend and training partner Tyron Woodley won the fight.

"So, here's what I think. I may be biased but I think Tyron won! I had it scored 5-3 [in favor of Tyron Woodley]," said Ben Askren. "The way I saw it, he was more aggressive, he was stalking and he landed more effective punches."

Watch Ben Askren's full take on Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley below:

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Ben Askren lost to Jake Paul via TKO in their boxing match

Ben Askren was one of the unfortunate victims who suffered a vicious knockdown to Jake Paul in the very first round of their highly anticipated crossover fight.

The bout was eventually called by the referee as Askren stumbled on his feet after getting up from the knockdown, leading to a TKO victory for Jake Paul.

Jake Paul knocks out Ben Askren in the first round. pic.twitter.com/YzAF7Q7FNV

— ESPN (@espn) April 18, 2021

The fight was Jake Paul's third of his professional career and was the first fight where 'The Problem Child' faced someone with experience in combat sports.

Watch the full highlights of the Ben Askren vs Jake Paul boxing match below:

Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren full fight video highlights https://t.co/h3Wf2jswRQ

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) April 18, 2021