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Ben Askren has claimed that his loss to Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 was as embarrassing as his recent loss to Jake Paul. However, Askren admitted that his bout against Gamebred had more significance than his boxing debut.
During his recent interview with ESPN MMA's Ariel Helwani, Ben Askren said that his recent bout against Jake Paul had very little significance in his life. Whereas the Masvidal fight had gigantic significance, given that if Funky was victorious at UFC 239 he would have fought for the UFC welterweight title.
"I would say they're equally embarrassing but the Masvidal fight obviously meant a lot more to me. I mean this is a fight that had little significance in my life and the Masvidal fight had gigantic significance. Masvidal fight, if I had won that I would be fighting for the UFC title, which would be the only belt at that point that I hadn't held."
Ben Askren also added that if he had gone on to win the UFC welterweight title, then he would have been the first person to have won the ONE Championship, the Bellator MMA, and the UFC welterweight championships.
"And if I go on to win it, I'm the first person to kinda to collect all three of those major belts and the first person to do it. So I mean, yeah, the Masvidal match mattered a lot to me."
But UFC 239 didn't turn out the way Askren hoped. The former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion was knocked out inside five seconds by Gamebred.
Almost immediately after the fight had started, Masvidal caught Funky with a knee to the face and followed up with some more shots before the referee had called off the fight.
Ben Askren would go on to retire after one more fight in the UFC
After his loss to Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren fought Demian Maia in the UFC and lost his third fight in the promotion as well. After being defeated by the Brazilian submission specialist, Askren called it a career and retired from the sport of MMA.
Check out here: Jorge Masvidal's Career Earnings
