The look on Ben Askren’s face as he stood in the center of the cage at ONE Championship 26 awaiting the announcement, that said it all. As he reached up and rubbed first his face, and then his bushy mop of hair, he might have been a man stuck in a traffic jam, his expression a twisted mix of stress and frustration.
Luis Santos, meanwhile, stood on the other side of the referee, a hand pressed to his injured right eye. Just how injured it really was, Askren still wonders.
“They said he had a corneal abrasion or something,” Askren told MMAjunkie. “I’m not a doctor, but just being around this stuff for years, I feel like if he had to continue he could have. I think he maybe played it up a little more than he had to.”
That’s a statement that would likely be contested by Santos, who complained after the fight that he wouldn’t be able to train for three weeks. His wife, female fighter Carina Damm, blasted Askren as “unprofessional.” According to Santos, the no-contest conclusion to the bout only delayed his inevitable victory, since he “dominated (Askren) in the fight.”
That’s a bit of a stretch, considering that the fight lasted just over two minutes and neither man had gained a clear advantage when Askren’s pawing lead hand appeared to graze Santos’ eye during a first-round takedown attempt.
As Askren put it, “I got stuffed on a couple takedowns and I got leg kicked, and that was it. That was really all that happened in two minutes.”
Still, even Askren will admit that his position in the MMA world these days is a unique one. He remains unbeaten, a former Bellator champ and a vocal UFC critic. As a former Olympian and two-time NCAA wrestling champion, he’s the guy you point to if you want to make the case that the UFC is sometimes more interested in popularity than skill when it chooses which fighters to sign and which ones to pass on.
Given that adversarial relationship with the UFC brass, Askren can’t really afford to look underwhelming against unranked competition. Especially with a fight like this, which lasted just long enough for Santos to give him an uncharacteristic amount of trouble before ending inconclusively, he knows he’s bound to take a status hit in some people’s eyes.
“I think it’s kind of a self-serving bias,” Askren said. “A lot of people, they want to listen to what (UFC President) Dana White says, and they want to think I suck. So, when I go two minutes and I can’t get a takedown, but the guy lands one leg kick on me, then it’s like I got my butt kicked. … But if that fight continues, there would be a much different outcome than what happened in the first two minutes.”
According to Askren, he expected a tough start from Santos. That “Sapo” would put up a blistering fight in the first round was something he incorporated into his game plan.
Ben Askren: ‘I’m excited to kick Santos’ butt’ after he ‘played up’ accidental eye poke | MMAjunkie
