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« | Home | »

Ben Askren wins over few fans at Bellator 40 in Oklahoma

By Zach Arnold | April 10, 2011

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Ben Askren: A pain in the ass to watch and an even bigger pain in the ass to fight.

Ben is one of the few fighters who both entertains and aggravates me each time I watch him fight. He really is masterful at neutralizing the offense of an opponent. He makes the complicated look ridiculously easy when it come to positioning. Those are his strengths. He’s trying to improve his finishing ability, but he’s not there yet. There’s a long ways to go for him in this sport to compete with the very best.

The part that is frustrating to watch is that he’s active… enough… to not have a referee stand him up but when he’s on offense it’s not very damaging at all. That’s the next big step he needs to take in order for his career to progress. He toyed around with Nick Thompson and Ben was truthful in advertising that he would take down Thompson any time he wanted to.

Is he right about most of the fans at MMA events wanting blood and guts? Yes. But I also think that many who do watch for the technical side of the game can both be pleased and frustrated by his unique fighting style. There’s no question that he’s talented. The disparity, however, between the charisma he exudes in interviews and outside of the cage does not match his fighting style… just yet. Patience is a virtue here. The fact that he’s so talented at avoiding submissions and cannot be out-wrestled are huge building blocks.

The one area, briefly, that he displayed rather average skill (at best) was his stand-up game.

Speaking of the stand-up game, I have no idea what to make of the game plan Jay Hieron brought to the table against Brent Weedman in his tournament fight. I was surprised (maybe even a little stunned) when the judges unanimously gave Hieron the 29-28 win over Weedman. I thought Jay won R1, Weedman R2, and then R3 could have either been a draw or slightly in favor of Brent. When the fight was on the ground and Jay was on top position, not much his opponent could do. However, too much of the fight was standing up and Weedman was able to avoid being in much trouble. I still am trying to figure out how the judges scored the fight for Hieron. Josh Gross:

Kinda feels like Jay Hieron got away w/ one. Felt Brent Weedman did enough to fight Rick Hawn in Bellator 170 finals. R3 was tight though.

After the main event, Ben Askren was asked his thoughts about the possibility of fighting Jay Hieron. He totally buried Hieron and said that he didn’t see anything impressive about Hieron’s fight to make him worry much. He’s right.

Check out Ben’s image on the Bellator van.

Next week: Joe Warren. I love watching this guy fight. Your turn, Marcos Galvao.

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

9 Responses to “Ben Askren wins over few fans at Bellator 40 in Oklahoma”

  1. Stel says:

    Askren is awesome to watch for folks like myself who enjoy watching superior technique over blood and guts which I don’t mind seeing in a horror movie. He is really a crazy haired Baryshnikov of the cage.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    I have a full understanding of the techniques he is using. He is awesome from a technical standpoint.

    It was almost impossible to watch his fight without getting highly annoyed. His style is Jon Fitch like, only even worse because he throws less punches and really only goes for the positional game.

    Plus, the problem is that he was fighting a guy who hasn’t won his last 3 fights. He looked completely flat the entire time.

  3. edub says:

    I love Askren’s attitude I really do.

    My buddy and I scored the fight for Weedman, but I told him that final reversal by Hieron in the last minute probably won him the fight. I think I was right.

    Chandler vs. Patricky should be damn good.

  4. The Judge says:

    I don’t think it’s that most fight fans want blood and guts.
    What they and the promoters want is stuff that looks impressive on camera. Takedowns that don’t land in a dominant position, wild fist swinging, punches that barely dent when they land, last-second end of round bursts.
    In other words, most of the stuff that looks impressive but wouldn’t come anywhere near landing you an advantage in a real fight.

    I would take the so-called boring style that might end up landing you a 9-10, because of the quality of today’s judges, over a “Rampage” Jackson fight any day. But then again, there are MMA fans and there are people who watch “The Ultimate Fighter”.

  5. You and I run parallel when it comes to Askren and fighters of his ilk, but particularly with his game. The thing is, unlike Fitch, Askren is still very young in this sport and shows a lot of upside. He’s not there yet, but boy, he’s getting there quicker than any other guy I’ve ever seen at Welterweight.

    I’m in the camp that likes good grappling and appreciates technique. I’ve always been a big Jake Shields fan – some would say an apologist. I do think, however, that many MMA fans would do well to educate themselves and actually become fans of the sport rather than of highlight reels. When a team is successful and wins championships with superior defense, you don’t see nearly as much vitriol. Some, yes, but it’s more begrudging in its respect. People are loathe to compare combat sports to team sports, and admittedly, it’s a tough comparison to make for a variety of reasons. The commonality, however, is that they are sport first and entertainment second, and even the latter value is intrinsically linked and enhanced by the former. I don’t want to dismiss people and tell them to go watch pro wrestling if they just want entertainment, but I do wish there was a bit more maturity when it came to the discussion.

    That said, you have to be able to finish to be a champion. Cruz and Edgar are exceptions to this, but they’re both in lighter weight classes that are still finding stability. The Silvas, St. Pierres, Joneses, Velasquezes etcetera all have the ability to finish, and it got them to where they were. People will scoff at my inclusion of GSP, but only because they have short memories.

    As for Hieron, incredibly disappointing. At one point he was a legitimate threat at 170, but those 14 months off really took their toll. MMA is a marathon, not a sprint…but you still have to stay in the race.

    • Stel says:

      Good points. And unlike Fitch, he displays pure wrestling for the entire match, mixed up with out of the blue sub attempts which I believe will start catching some day.

      While Askren uses pure wrestling to defend and counter stand up striking, he is not a defensive wrestler on the ground.

      Because they have watched GSP crush so many fighters in the past, his opponents are forced into plan “B” almost immediately and have developed much better defensive games.

      However, similar to the Alvarez Curren fight, increasing training of defensive strategies comes at the expense of diluting their offensive games considerably. Add that to the fact that GSP now fights more conservatively because he’s champ you get a lot of decisions.

  6. EJ says:

    I have no problem with Askren or his style what was frustrating about that fight was watching an mma vet like Thomson look like he’d never done bjj in his life.

    As far as the Hieron fight I have no clue how anyone could score the second round for Weedman. Coming forward and being aggressive doesn’t win you a round if you are getting picked apart which he was. Now I do agree with your questioning Hieron’s gameplan, looks like he picked up a bad case of boxeritis. Which he’s going to have to fix if he is going to beat Askren, hopefully his trainers will get him back to doing what he does best wrestle and gnp.

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