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Ben Askren Praises Jorge Masvidal's Flying Knee At UFC 239, Says It Wasn't Lucky

Ben Askren Praises Jorge Masvidal's Flying Knee At UFC 239, Says It Wasn't Lucky

He's reacted to his first professional MMA defeat.

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar

Ben Askren has insisted that Jorge Masvidal's flying knee wasn't lucky as he opens up honestly about his first professional defeat.

Masvidal perfectly executed a flying knee flush on Askren's head a few seconds into their main-card bout at UFC 239.

The American Top Team-trained fighter stopped the ex-Bellator champion in just five seconds to record the biggest victory of his career.

Askren, who's now 19-1, has since praised Masvidal's brilliance inside the Octagon.

"I got nothing to hide from. Things happen, losses happen," he told Ariel Helwani.

"Saturday night was definitely not ideal for myself, but I got nothing to complain about.

"There is a little part of my memory that is blank there. I remember being in the cage with him. I don't really remember the flying knee and then when I can recall, I remember everything. So I was like, 'Oh shit, I lost to Jorge Masvidal. This freaking sucks.

"Everybody was more worried about me than I was about myself. I didn't really have any pain of any sort. Not a headache, nothing in my face hurts. And so it was just like, 'Oh Jesus, I lost to Jorge Masvidal.'

"I could tell it was pretty fast because I wasn't sweaty or sore or anything. So it was fast, apparently I set a record of some sort."

Image: PA
Image: PA

Askren also shut down anyone saying Masvidal's shot was lucky.

"I hear people saying it was lucky, it's not luck," he added. "Will it happen 100 out of 100 times? Definitely not. But, landing a knee like that takes a lot of skill, I couldn't do such a thing.

"But, at the same time, I didn't get my ass kicked for 15 minutes and I didn't get stuffed on 13 takedowns and just get beat up for people to say, 'He sucks.' I got caught with a flying knee and got knocked out. There is not much I can do about it."

Props to Askren. We know him as a trash talker, but he spoke brilliantly about his defeat.

It's back to the drawing board for Askren while Masvidal could be in line for a shot at UFC gold.

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Topics: Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren, UFC News, Ariel Helwani, Fight News, UFC