Ben Askren says loss to Jake Paul is “equally embarrassing” as Masvidal defeat, has no regrets of taking fight

Ben Askren has no regrets about taking the boxing fight against Jake Paul, but says the loss is still embarrassing.

Askren was far from a boxer and admitted if Paul was actually good he would lose. However, he didn’t get to show much as the YouTuber turned boxer landed an overhand right that connected and dropped him and the ref waived the fight off.

After the loss, the clip of the KO went viral, and for Askren, he says that loss is equally embarrassing as the flying knee KO loss to Jorge Masvidal.

“I would say they are equally embarrassing, the Masvidal fight obviously meant a lot more to me. This was a fight that had little significance in my life, the Masvidal fight had giant significance,” Askren said to ESPN. “The Masvidal fight, if I won that I was going to fight for the UFC title which was the only belt at that point that I hadn’t held. If I go on to win it, then I’m the first person to kind of, I don’t know if you want to say unify, but collect all three of those major belts and the first person to do it. The Masvidal match mattered a lot more to me. If we are talking about an embarrassing standpoint, they are equally embarrassing.”

Image Credit: Triller Fight Club

Although Ben Askren says the result was embarrassing, he has no regrets taking the fight as he knows he is far from a good boxer.

“No, not at all. I actually figured you were going to ask that question. The only reason, the one and the only reason I wouldn’t take the fight actually happened. The reason is the ability to have an embarrassing moment,” Askren said. “That’s a terrible reason not to do it, in my opinion. The main two reasons I took it was I was getting paid well and I thought it was a fun opportunity, and I still think it was both of those things. There were certain things in the 11 weeks leading up that stressed me out because somethings weren’t really organized, but overall I really enjoyed myself. I made a lot of money and unfortunately I didn’t get the result I wanted, but Monday afterward, I’m just going to go back to my regular everyday life.”

Were you surprised to see Ben Askren get knocked out by Jake Paul?