The wrestling match between Jordan Burroughs and Ben Askren wasn’t even over yet, and Flo Wrestling commentator Mark Bader stated the obvious based on what he’d seen.
“What we’ve learned so far is that Jordan Burroughs is a better wrestler than Ben Askren,” Bader said. “Which I think we already knew.”
It was 5-0 at that point, and nothing was going Askren’s way.
When it was all over in the second round, Burroughs walked away with an easy 11-0 win by technical fall at Beat the Streets “Grapple at the Garden” event, which took place Monday night at Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
The match between Burroughs and UFC welterweight Askren was a highly anticipated encounter given their pedigrees. Burroughs, 30, was a two-time collegiate national champion at the University of Nebraska and took home gold at the 2012 Olympics. Askren, 35, was a two-time national champion in college at Missouri, finishing his career with a 153-8 record.
Burroughs set the tone in the opening moments of the match, shooting in on a single-leg takedown and driving Askren off the elevated mat and onto the floor. Burroughs came back to hit a head-and-chest double leg to lead 5-0 after the first minute. He led 9-0 after the first round.
The end of the match came quickly in the second round after another takedown made it 11-0 to give Burroughs the victory by technical fall.
With the charity matchup behind him, Askren, who’s undefeated in MMA, can now focus solely on his upcoming fight with Jorge Masvidal on July 6 at UFC 239 in Las Vegas.
