After losing to Demian Maia by mataleón in the third round, marking his second consecutive defeat, Ben Askren expressed regret at the post-event show on ESPN.
“Obviously we train a lot in this camp; He had a very good jiujitsu partner. I think I trusted myself. I think that’s why he is the best grappler in the division, possibly in the history of MMA. I was very confident that I could reverse the position, but I couldn’t, and I failed, and obviously, that was the result.”
Y al suelo!!! #UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/3yg61b05oq
— UFC Español (@UFCEspanol) October 26, 2019
The match began with a Maia “dressing” as a puncher hitting a decent amount of blow to Askren’s face in the first round. While Askren approached, in most cases, in a “clumsy” way to Maia, trying to enter a demolition or a Thai clinch. In the second round “Funky” he managed to increase the hits he hit until he cut Maia’s face and made him wobble at times; Besides, at times, exciting exchanges were made on the ground when Askren managed to bring down the ADCC champion. Damian finally managed to take Askren’s back and finish it with slaughter.
“The fight developed the way we thought it would happen. There were a few positions that I would have liked to have more, like a Thai clinch, but he stayed at bay. But I was hitting hits that I wanted to hit. I was hitting the uppercut very well, and then I could make demolitions. I think he runs 4 or 5 takedowns. Then I made a very bad decision.”
WOW!!!! @demianmaia muestra su supremacía en el piso y somete a Ben Askren en la estelar de #UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/b6gb3rPkio
— UFC Español (@UFCEspanol) October 26, 2019
After losing his undefeated, and perhaps the success he had in Bellator and ONE FC; Ben Askren, 35, reflects on his future:
“I don’t know what’s next now. I have to go home to talk about it and think about it. I had a busy year and that was amazing. Even before this fight, I was thinking that I would come later, whom I was going to challenge. Everyone is busy in the division. Challenging someone now would be difficult. There is no one to fight with that makes sense; saying that, I think I’ll sit down and wait for a moment and see what happens.”
