Ben Askren shuts down rumors Jake Paul fight was \u201crigged\u201d for him to lose YouTube: ESPN MMAJust days removed from his first-round knockout to Jake Paul, Ben Askren has come forward and shut down speculation that the boxing event was rigged for him to lose. Askren\u2019s first boxing fight didn\u2019t quite go according to plan. A rapid first-round KO saw Paul advance to a 3-0 record with Askren forced back into retirement. While the PPV event generated tens of millions and drew interest from around the world, some viewers quickly ran away with an intriguing theory. Was the fight rigged all along? Footage soon emerged that showed Askren happily leaving the arena mere moments after the knockout. As a result, many began to speculate that he may have \u2018taken a dive\u2019 for a quick paycheck \u2013 a paycheck considerably larger than anything he ever took home in the UFC. Speaking with ESPN\u2019s Ariel Helwani after the fact, Askren has now put a stop to this line of thinking. \u201cIt definitely didn\u2019t happen,\u201d he confirmed. \u201cI got hit.\u201d Despite the quick defeat, the former Olympian assured that \u2018throwing the fight\u2019 was never even considered. \u201cI\u2019m not destitute and poor. What do I gain by that? The answer is nothing, I think I would actually lose a lot. That\u2019s not something that would ever cross my mind.\u201d Having competed at the highest level of combat sports for more than a decade, Askren retired with an MMA record of 19-2. For viewers that questioned the legitimacy of his final bout with a YouTuber, he believes it\u2019s only \u201chuman nature.\u201d In the lead-up to the fight, and even in the locker room just minutes before, Askren was \u201cpretty confident [he] was going to win.\u201d Things ultimately didn\u2019t play out in his favor but by no means was the event rigged. It all just came down to not \u201cdefending the overhand right,\u201d according to Askren. \u201cHe\u2019s got a good overhand right. I didn\u2019t defend it well enough.\u201d Throughout his entire MMA career, he \u201cwanted\u201d his opponents to throw that same strike in order to set up an \u201ceasy\u201d takedown. It was \u201ca hard habit to break\u201d and that resulted in a first-round KO. The relevant topic begins at the 9:40 mark below. While it was a \u201chighly embarrassing\u201d result, Askren walks away with no regrets now that it\u2019s all said and done. As for Paul, he\u2019s still got a rich future ahead with countless social media stars calling him out to be next in line. There\u2019s no telling who he might face next, but it\u2019s sure to draw just as much interest coming off another flash KO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ben Askren shuts down rumors Jake Paul fight was \u201crigged\u201d for him to lose YouTube: ESPN MMAJust days removed from his first-round knockout to Jake Paul, Ben Askren has come forward and shut down speculation that the boxing event was rigged for him to lose. Askren\u2019s first boxing fight didn\u2019t quite go according to plan. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}