​​By Elias Cepeda 

When Ben Askren entered professional MMA less than a year after he competed as a wrestler for the United States at the 2008 Olympic games, he did so with the skills and the potential to become a dominant force in his new sport. 

Eight years later, “Funky Ben” has more than fulfilled that promise on the strength of largely dominant performances over the course of 16 bouts.
 
Still, the Roufusport member doesn’t get the recognition and credit he’s earned, in large part due to circumstances outside of his control. In many ways, Askren has been the victim of his own success and outspokenness.
 
He dominated in Bellator as welterweight champion until the promotion absurdly let him go because they simply wanted a different type of fighter at the top of that division. From there, Askren attempted to sign with the UFC, where his resume clearly warranted, but the promotion refused to sign him after his years of criticizing their president Dana White’s business practices.

 

So, Askren signed where he was wanted, in Asia’s burgeoning promotion ONE Championship, and is unbeaten in four fights with the company. Because he’s yet to fight in the UFC and because the 32-year-old has only fought twice since 2015 and hasn’t competed in over a year, it could be easy to forget the totality of Askren’s phenomenal MMA career.
 
Askren takes on Malay prospect Agilan Thani Friday in Singapore for ONE on a card broadcast by FloCombat in the United States, so it seems like the perfect opportunity to revisit the Olympian’s MMA credentials without the negative hype tossed his way from heads of other promotions.
 
The novice fan might confuse Askren’s stifling grappling ability with a lack of excitement or finishes. The truth is, however, that more than half of Askren’s victories have come by either KO or submission.
 
In fact, Askren has a slightly better fight-finishing percentage than longtime UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, one of the most popular stars in the sport’s history. Some of Askren’s finishes were downright nasty, and over impressive competition, like when he stopped the young and surging Andre Koreshkov on July 31, 2013 in Bellator MMA. Koreshkov went on to become the Bellator MMA welterweight champ. 
 
Earlier during his dominant Bellator reign, Askren also controlled and beat Douglas Lima convincingly, back on April 6, 2012. Lima is the current Bellator welterweight champ. Sense a pattern?

More recently, Askren stopped Nobutatsu Suzuki in August of 2014. Suzuki is an aging star, but his loss to Askren was still just the Japanese warrior’s second defeat in a long, 12-year career. Of course, Askren also owns victories over UFC veterans Nick Thompson and Jay Hieron.
 
The reality of Ben Askren is that he’s always fought the best competition available to him and has attempted to put himself in situations where he could continue to up that level of opposition. In addition to that, Askren usually submits or knocks his opponents silly.

And then he grabs the mic and talks trash. Sounds like a good show to us.

How to Watch ONE: Dynasty of Heroes

On TV: Now Available on Roku and Apple TV 4—download the FloSports app now.
STREAMING: Only on FloCombat in the United States with a PRO subscription. A yearly PRO subscription provides access to ALL FloSports sites.

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