Ben Askren has talked a big game for years when it comes to embarrassing the heavy hitters of mixed martial arts. But he had to eat humble pie on Monday night after an emphatic defeat by Jordan Burroughs in their wrestling exhibition contest.
Reigning Olympic champion Burroughs crushed Askren 11-0 at the “Beat the Streets” event at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York, which was streamed live on FloWrestling.
It was all over in the second period with Burroughs winning by technical fall after shutting out his fellow American.
The match was highly anticipated, after plenty of lighthearted back and forth between the two on social media in the build-up. Former Olympian Askren – a two-time national wrestling champion and one-time world champion – was also stepping back onto the mats for the first time in more than a decade, despite having an upcoming MMA bout against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 on July 7.
“Today the MMA world and the wrestling world butted heads and everybody loved it,” Burroughs said alongside Askren as the two men spoke to the media after the bout.
Although Askren has an excellent pedigree as a wrestler, he was still the underdog given he had been away from focusing solely on wrestling since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“My strategy was to give up the two, then choke you out,” Askren jokingly told Burroughs. “Come hell or high water, I wasn’t going to shoot. I wasn’t going to shoot. You think I’m insane. I was going to choke you out and then you’d roll over.”
The match started out slowly with the men feeling each other out until Burroughs initiated with a single leg attempt that pushed Askren off the stage.
Burroughs then hit a couple of blast doubles to open up an 8-0 lead, before sealing an 11-0 win with an ankle pick at the start of the second period.
“That double was clean, man,” Burroughs said. “I wrestled Ben before and when I got in the front headlock position I remembered it and he was even teaching me some ways to get out of the front headlock. I knew his scrambling ability was far superior to a lot of people I competed against. Any time we were touching we were on an equivalent playing field.
“When I’m in the open, it’s my game. That’s what I wanted to do.”
The 30-year-old Burroughs, who took home gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, is four years Askren’s junior and a four-time world champion, as well as a two-time national champion. UFC star Askren, who was 135-8 in wrestling, is undefeated in MMA since making the transition to the cage in 2009.
“Give @Benaskren his do [sic],” one fan wrote on Twitter. “He set aside his pride and wrestled the goat for charity. I’m sure his name sake boosted the intake. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t have learnt of JBs greatness without Ben.
“Thank you for helping us grow our sport,” another Twitter user said. “To see you on the big stage was quite a delight and it essential to the growth of the sport. Looking forward to seeing you win some big fight in the coming months.”
“Still a huge @Benaskren fan after throwing it on the line just for the sport,” another said. “That man isn’t scared to walk into a battle he’s not favoured to win.”
