The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 162: Maia vs. Askren

#1 Worst: Is Askren a bust?

After today's loss, Ben Askren's future in the UFC is on shaky ground

UFC President Dana White was never high on Ben Askren, refusing to bring him to the promotion back in 2013 when he was let go by Bellator despite being their unbeaten Welterweight champion.

So it came as somewhat of a surprise when the UFC traded former Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson over to ONE FC in order to bring ‘Funky’ aboard last October, but for many fans – myself included – it was a welcome surprise.

Quite how Askren would do in the UFC was always a major question mark; the former Olympic wrestler was renowned as one of the best grapplers in the 170lbs division, but his striking was largely recognised as a work in progress. Well, three fights into his UFC career and it’s hard not to call the former Bellator champ a bust.

His debut fight was incredibly exciting – but was also full of controversy, as he was almost knocked out by Robbie Lawler early on before coming back to apparently choke Lawler out, although ‘Ruthless’ didn’t appear to be fully unconscious. His second outing of course saw him KO’d by Jorge Masvidal in just 5 seconds, meaning Askren had a lot riding on the result of today’s fight with Demian Maia.

Unfortunately for Askren, the fight didn’t go his way. His striking again looked crude, and although he hit some takedowns, he never fully controlled Maia, and in the third round, the Brazilian grappling expert used a leglock attempt to reverse ‘Funky’ before forcing him to tap out with a rear naked choke.

Quite where Askren goes from here is unknown; it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the UFC cut him outright given his history with White, but that’d seem harsh to me as other big-money busts like Hector Lombard were given more chances. We shall see, but for now he’s way out of title contention.