Askren 1st UFC fight- don’t open if you don’t want the result

[MSU158]

How he made it past that 1st minute was BEYOND me. But, he got bloodied, weathered the storm and Robbie pretty much wore himself out throwing shots. Hats off to Askren for choking him out, even if the call was controversial.

His grappling is sooo good, but he showed he has a big weakness against really strong, hard strikers. He was VERY close to getting knocked out in less than a minute!

 

[JohnBasedow]

Man that was awesome. It was the right call even if Robbie didn’t like it. He went out and then came back to IMO.

 

[JohnBasedow]

Surprised he survived this. That slam stunned him good.

 

[Is_there_vodka_in_heaven]

Great fight. Was cheering for Askren but Robbie Lawler is the definition of class. Absolute warrior and Savage fighter who then displays complete class every single time no matter the circumstance. I'm glad Askrens finally getting a shot in the UFC although it's still unfortunate that it's the tail end of his career.

 

[Bloodrazor]

Too bad GSP retired. Would love to see him shut Askren's mouth after listening to him talk crap from an inferior organization for years, knowing he'd never have to fight him. Hopefully Askren takes another jab and GSP comes back, that would be epic

 

[MSU158]

Too bad GSP retired. Would love to see him shut Askren's mouth after listening to him talk crap from an inferior organization for years, knowing he'd never have to fight him. Hopefully Askren takes another jab and GSP comes back, that would be epic

I have to disagree. After watching Hendricks beat GSP(yes I know the judges handed it to GSP), I don’t think his style matched up well with Askren. Hendricks would have been the guy more likely to beat him in his prime. Block the grappling early on and land heavy strikes. One thing Hendricks has was super heavy hands. But, I don’t care who you are, if you let it get past the first couple of minutes and he weathered your freshest punches, you are done from there. GSP was very well rounded, but liked to grapple and without the real heavy hands, he was going to spend quite some time underneath Askren.

 

[Bloodrazor]

I have to disagree. After watching Hendricks beat GSP(yes I know the judges handed it to GSP), I don’t think his style matched up well with Askren. Hendricks would have been the guy more likely to beat him in his prime. Block the grappling early on and land heavy strikes. One thing Hendricks has was super heavy hands. But, I don’t care who you are, if you let it get past the first couple of minutes and he weathered your freshest punches, you are done from there. GSP was very well rounded, but liked to grapple and without the real heavy hands, he was going to spend quite some time underneath Askren.

GSP has one of the best jabs in MMA, he would keep distance from Askren and pick him apart. Hendricks had the threat of hurting GSP at range, Askren does not. Askren would get his head taken off trying to get to GSP, whether it would be slow from jabs or brutal from kicks. GSP is a much better wrestler then Lawler, and not a pure brawler. He has a much more varied offense to keep Askren on his heels.

Askren is a nightmare match up for lots of fighters, but GSP is going to beat the snot out of anyone that doesn't have the threat of 1 shot KO power. Askren also tires his opponents out, not happening with GSP. I also think on the off chance Askren did take GSP down, GSP has good enough defense to take almost no damage, although it would be difficult to get out from under him

 

[hawkster03]

Surprised he survived this. That slam stunned him good.

View embedded media

Dang, I’m gonna have to YouTube this or something. I don’t even know who’s attempting what right there.

 

[MSU158]

GSP has one of the best jabs in MMA, he would keep distance from Askren and pick him apart. Hendricks had the threat of hurting GSP at range, Askren does not. Askren would get his head taken off trying to get to GSP, whether it would be slow from jabs or brutal from kicks. GSP is a much better wrestler then Lawler, and not a pure brawler. He has a much more varied offense to keep Askren on his heels.

Askren is a nightmare match up for lots of fighters, but GSP is going to beat the snot out of anyone that doesn't have the threat of 1 shot KO power. Askren also tires his opponents out, not happening with GSP. I also think on the off chance Askren did take GSP down, GSP has good enough defense to take almost no damage, although it would be difficult to get out from under him

It sure looked Like GSP gasses against Hendricks to me. But, I get your overall point. GSP had the talent to win the match on style points, but I don’t think he had the KO power to put Askren away. Without that, Askren had the style and tank to frustrate the hell out of GSP and win ugly.

I could see GSP keeping Askren at a distance for the 1st couple rounds and probably scoring with jabs and leg kicks, but Askren would eventually get the match to the mat and I just haven’t seen anyone around that weight that can win those positions against Ben.

I truly believe you have to KO Askren to beat him and that would only come from full strength power punching early on or some other type of haymaker like a spinning punch or high kick. Askren wins ugly and talks trash so I get why many discredit him, but his style is just so solid that you literally have to catch him to beat him.

 

[MSU158]

Dang, I’m gonna have to YouTube this or something. I don’t even know who’s attempting what right there.

It was crazy. Been went for the legs and Lawler literally muscled him up into a fully standing variant of a fireman’s and then drove Askren straight down onto the top of his head. This is what almost knocked Askren out and he left himself wide open to a few devastating punches before he recovered.

If he didn’t get that choke so soon after, I don’t know if his legs ever truly recover. The damage he took early wasn’t going to let him go 5 rounds. The only other thing that helped him is Lawler expended all of his energy going full bore that early going for the KO.

 

[fufighters]

The slam was nice followed by the barrage of hits, looked like the ref almost jumped in to stop it.
As far as the stoppage, if Askren continues that choke it would of knocked Lawler completely out. His arm went limp and the looked like Lawler was out., so 10 seconds more would have been definitely snoozing.

 

[postseasonhawk]

I would be good with either one winning but terrible stopage. Lawler is a class act.

 

[OldestandGreatest]

The slam was nice followed by the barrage of hits, looked like the ref almost jumped in to stop it.
As far as the stoppage, if Askren continues that choke it would of knocked Lawler completely out. His arm went limp and the looked like Lawler was out., so 10 seconds more would have been definitely snoozing.

Yes, it sure looked like it was headed that way. However in the press conference, Lawler said it was tight but it was not cutting off his airflow and that he was basically hanging out. He seems like a straight shooter but who knows...

 

[JohnBasedow]

 

[2000hawk]

I have to disagree. After watching Hendricks beat GSP(yes I know the judges handed it to GSP), I don’t think his style matched up well with Askren. Hendricks would have been the guy more likely to beat him in his prime. Block the grappling early on and land heavy strikes. One thing Hendricks has was super heavy hands. But, I don’t care who you are, if you let it get past the first couple of minutes and he weathered your freshest punches, you are done from there. GSP was very well rounded, but liked to grapple and without the real heavy hands, he was going to spend quite some time underneath Askren.

GSP has one of the best jabs in MMA, he would keep distance from Askren and pick him apart. Hendricks had the threat of hurting GSP at range, Askren does not. Askren would get his head taken off trying to get to GSP, whether it would be slow from jabs or brutal from kicks. GSP is a much better wrestler then Lawler, and not a pure brawler. He has a much more varied offense to keep Askren on his heels.

Askren is a nightmare match up for lots of fighters, but GSP is going to beat the snot out of anyone that doesn't have the threat of 1 shot KO power. Askren also tires his opponents out, not happening with GSP. I also think on the off chance Askren did take GSP down, GSP has good enough defense to take almost no damage, although it would be difficult to get out from under him

This is accurate. GSP was one of the best wrestlers to ever enter the Octagon. His wrestling aptitude was off the charts. He improved quicker than anyone I has seen in the grappling department.

One thing is for sure, that may have been the most boring match up in UFC history.

 

[Is_there_vodka_in_heaven]

This is accurate. GSP was one of the best wrestlers to ever enter the Octagon. His wrestling aptitude was off the charts. He improved quicker than anyone I has seen in the grappling department.

One thing is for sure, that may have been the most boring match up in UFC history.

Boring? Filthy casual. Your posting on a wrestling site but criticizing grappling in MMA.

You one of those guys that boos when the ref won't stand em up when the guy on bottom has zero take down defense or grappling skills to get back on their feet and is just a striker winging punches?

 

[2000hawk]

This is accurate. GSP was one of the best wrestlers to ever enter the Octagon. His wrestling aptitude was off the charts. He improved quicker than anyone I has seen in the grappling department.

One thing is for sure, that may have been the most boring match up in UFC history.

Boring? Filthy casual. Your posting on a wrestling site but criticizing grappling in MMA.

You one of those guys that boos when the ref won't stand em up when the guy on bottom has zero take down defense or grappling skills to get back on their feet and is just a striker winging punches?

Ha no I don’t mind good wrestling at all in MMA. I found GSP to be very calculated and somewhat boring at the end of his career. He rarely put himself in danger, which was smart of course but it didn’t lead to exciting fights. With Askrens lack of striking and GSP’s wrestling I think that fight would be a snoozer.

 

[Tcalumet]

The slam was nice followed by the barrage of hits, looked like the ref almost jumped in to stop it.
As far as the stoppage, if Askren continues that choke it would of knocked Lawler completely out. His arm went limp and the looked like Lawler was out., so 10 seconds more would have been definitely snoozing.

Ref stoppage was smart - he would have caused harm if not - arm was limp - Ben was on a knee so he wasn’t going to go flat. It was tight

 

[fufighters]

You gotta appreciate this

 

[Needanap]

You gotta appreciate this

View embedded media

Thanks FuFighters, I enjoyed that. I'm still laughing at Askren wearing Flip-Flops

 

[fufighters]

Love when the gracie's come and put this video out.