Ben Askren has seemingly taken credit for Jorge Masvidal’s rise to superstardom. ‘Gamebred’ reached new levels of fame after scoring the fastest knockout in UFC history when he fought Askren at UFC 239 in July 2019.
‘Funky’ went into the fight a considerable favourite. Many expected the former Bellator and ONE champion to stretch his UFC winning streak to two and earn the next title shot by beating Masvidal. Unfortunately for the wrestling standout that didn’t happen. He was caught with a flying knee and knocked unconscious in a record-breaking five seconds.
Masvidal has since gone on to beat Nate Diaz to become the BMF champion. He will now face welterweight king Kamaru Usman at UFC 251 this Saturday (July 11).
In an interview with Ariel Helwani of ESPN Askren reflected on his rivalry with Masvidal and took credit for helping ‘Gamebred’ become one of the biggest stars in the sport, he said.
“I put the spotlight on him. His Twitter followers, his Instagram followers [increased], I put the spotlight on him. I played the foil to him. I let him shine, unfortunately, I thought I was going to crush him. He says some of these things like the three-piece and a soda that maybe he isn’t intentionally funny but it authentic. People love that when he says F-ing super necessary, which I feel like he was a douche for punching me when I was already unconscious. I thought that was unnecessary, but he says it was super necessary.
“You know what, it is pretty funny. I was the dude that got punched and that was Jorge being real and that was kind of funny,” he continued. “Even though I thought he was a douchebag for punching me when I was unconscious, it was kind of funny. So, yes, there is a certain authenticity to Jorge that people really, really enjoy.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)
Do you think the Ben Askren KO is the main reason Jorge Masvidal has become an MMA superstar?