Ben Askren doesn’t remember ‘damn good’ flying knee, wasn’t surprised by extra punches

Ben Askren’s fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 on Saturday night lasted all of five seconds thanks to a tremendous flying-knee KO by Masvidal that had everyone in awe.

Masvidal also landed a couple of punches after knocking out Askren, which he said were “super necessary” because of the way Askren treated him leading up to the fight.

Askren handled the loss with a great tweet on Sunday as he recognized that the result wasn’t a great one for him.

On Monday he appeared on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on ESPN and spoke  openly about what went wrong.

First, he didn’t remember anything that happened in the cage:

Ben Askren: "I remember being in the cage with (Jorge Masvidal). I don't really remember the flying knee."@arielhelwani: "You don't remember anything in the cage?"

Askren: "I don't."https://t.co/ESZZ4rtHC1#HelwaniShow

— Greg Rosenstein (@grosenstein) July 8, 2019

Askren tells @arielhelwani that he didn’t have any memory of what happened until the hospital: "I don't really remember the flying knee. And then when I can recall, I remember everything. I was like, 'Oh shit, I lost to Jorge Masvidal. This freakin' sucks.’” #HelwaniShow

— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) July 8, 2019

He explained why he wasn’t all that surprised by those extra punches thrown by Masvidal:

"I know what I signed up for." @Benaskren on the punches landed after he was unconscious (via @arielhelwani) pic.twitter.com/hul4Sj5xtQ

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 8, 2019

And while he thought Masvidal might try something crazy out of the gates, Askren was really impressed with the knee after watching the fight:

"I don't like Jorge at all, but that was a damn good flying knee."@Benaskren gives credit to Masvidal for his technique pic.twitter.com/u1yRcJMerD

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 8, 2019

Askren has handled this all really well, which is something he didn’t do in the  five seconds of that fight.