"I was in hospital" - Ben Askren reveals the first thing he remembers after getting knocked out by Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239
Jorge Masvidal's iconic 5-second knockout win over Ben Askren will go down as one of the most shocking moments in MMA history.
In a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Ben Askren discussed what he remembers after receiving a catastrophic knee in the first five seconds of his fight at UFC 239. The former ONE welterweight champion does not remember being carried out of the Octagon and only came to his senses upon reaching the hospital:
"I remember staring at him in the pre-fight, that's it", said Ben Askren. "I was in the hospital with my wife. She didn't tell me. The first thing I remember is saying, 'Hey what's up?'. And I'm like, 'Aw! I'm in the hospital, probably didn't go so well, huh?'. And then I remember thinking, I didn't feel like super sweaty or sore, so I'm like sh*t, it must've been fast huh? And she's like yup, and I'm like 'F', you know. That was it, I went to the afterparty."
Upon regaining consciousness, Ben Askren saw Luke Rockhold, who was venturing into the light heavyweight division on the same card. Askren knew he was in the hospital as Rockhold had been knocked out by Jan Blachowicz right before his fight with Jorge Masvidal:
"The first memory was, I remember Luke Rockhold was right in front of me. It first hit me like, 'F*ck!, I'm in the hospital, Luke Rockhold's right there'. And then Amy was there and I was like, 'Amy, I'm in the hospital huh?' and she's like, 'Yeah!'."
Ben Askren on Jorge Masvidal vs Kamaru Usman 2
Unlike Jorge Masvidal, who is considered to be one of the craftiest strikers in the game, Ben Askren does not possess elite striking prowess. The former Bellator champion had planned to rely on his patented 'Funky' style of wrestling to out-grapple 'Gamebred'.
Ben Askren believes Jorge Masvidal is not equipped for high-level wrestling and so the forthcoming rematch (UFC 261) with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will unfold similarly to how things went at UFC 251.
In their previous meeting, Kamaru Usman held the BMF against the cage for five rounds and churned out a unanimous decision victory:
"Take him down and beat him up. He doesn't wrestle all that well as evidence between [Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman]. And that's why I said the Marty fight, the second fight, is kinda dumb cause Usman won five rounds to zero. People are claiming it's competitive but I think it's cause they wanna remember it that way cause they like Jorge a lot more than they like Usman. Usman's very unlikeable. So they want to remember it being relatively competitive when it really wasn't... there's a whole bunch oof people who have taken Jorge down."
A Look at Jorge Masvidal's Career Earnings