Chael Sonnen praises Ben Askren for how he’s handled UFC 239 KO loss

Chael Sonnen is impressed with the way Ben Askren has faced the music.

Askren entered the UFC with substantial hype. He was part of the UFC’s trade with ONE Championship. In exchange for Demetrious Johnson, Askren was sent over to the most recognized mixed martial arts promotion. “Funky” had a successful, albeit controversial, debut against Robbie Lawler back in March. He submitted Lawler in the first round. In his second UFC bout, Askren was flattened in a record-setting five seconds via flying knee courtesy of Jorge Masvidal.

Retired mixed martial artist Sonnen took to his YouTube channel to post a video giving his take on why fans are more accepting of Ben Askren following such a devastating loss:

“I believe it’s because people are seeing the real Ben Askren, which is a guy who likes to go out and entertain,” Sonnen said. “He likes to antagonize because he understands the business and he understands to get his spot and make sure he has attention, he needs to do a little of that. A guy who makes weight, walks out there, does the heavy lifting, takes on anybody that’s asked of him under any ruleset in any continent in any organization you want to do it in. And then tips his hat at the end of the night likes a sportsman would. No excuses, tip your hat, grab your stuff, shower up and move on.”

Askren owned up to his loss just two days after being knocked out. He joked about setting a record and gave Masvidal props for pulling off the victory in spectacular fashion.

“I always thought, ‘who the hell gets flying kneed? Can’t you see that coming? It’s coming from so far away!’ When I watched the film — I don’t like Jorge at all — but that was a damn good flying knee,” Askren said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “He hit it fast and explosively, he got some serious air time on it, and then obviously connected in the right spot.”

Do you think Ben Askren will rebound from his record-setting KO loss to Jorge Masvidal?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/12/2019.