Is Ben Askren's hip why his striking sucks?

[superpunch]

I trained MMA casually.. I was one of the most unathletic people in graduation year. I swear to god I had better striking especially boxing than Ben Askren after a month. Just a month of repeating the basics, like how to throw a jab/ cross/ hook, how to put them into a 1 2 3, etc.

Ben Askren can't throw a jab or a cross. He can't throw a hook. Instead, he just kinda turns his body awkwardly into whatever the fuck he's doing.

But..
How A Hip Replacement Surgery Helped Ben Askren Cure His Back Issues
Ben Askren had to declare an early retirement from the sport of MMA last year after losing to Demian Maia. After his loss to Jorge Masvidal, Askren had lost all the momentum of his early UFC promise.
...
“It’s called the Birmingham hip. What they do is they get it all cleaned up. They cap the top right off and the bone goes into the socket, so they cap the top of it and they clean up the inside and put some on the inside. I am pain free.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/m...rgery-helped-ben-askren-cure-his-back-issues/

What if.. he's just physically incapable of rotating his body into chaining his kinetic energy into strikes?

 

[Reign009]

Having a bad hip will definitely affect your movement so I could see that being a big factor.

 

[Marko Polo]

 

[acannxr]

His striking has always been awful.

 

[josp1]

My assumption is it’s easier to look good in practice when you don’t have a killer trying to knock you out...

Has he had bad hips his entire career from his wrestling days? My guess is he never needed striking to dominate in the b leagues so he didn’t train it much. Looking at his physique he clearly isn’t as dedicated as some...(this is coming from someone who enjoys his schtick)

 

[delbosque]

Ben Askren's striking is why Ben Askren's striking sucks.

 

[kekiss]

His striking always was mediocre at best even in bush leagues he used to “dominate” , and it’s hard to improve on your weaknesses, when there is no one to expose them. His UFC run was nosedive and rightfully so, one dimensional bums aren’t needed in this sport

 

[Kingkiller]

Well, if you want to do a proper comparison you have to look how Ben´s striking looks in practise hitting mitts. Things change when you have a trained professional in front of you who is looking to take your head off.

 

[Juicy Jon]

That is likely part of the reason, but I think the bigger reason was being too arrogant to develop his game.

 

[Red Dragoniop]

another joe rogan hype job....

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

His striking has always been bad, but his grappling was so good that it made up for it...

 

[The Bloody Nine]

For an Olympian, it's amazing how unathletic Ben looks.

 

[DS66]

You may think you have decent boxing fundamentals TS, but that would go out the window in an instant in an actual fight where you have to defend yourself from a guy trying to kill you while still somehow integrating your offense. It's a whole different thing, I'm sure Ben's striking looks alright when he's hitting mits. He's just never really used it much in a fight so it never advanced at all.

 

[linvillegorge]

Nah, I think he was just happy being kind of a gimmick fighter. Just like Roy Nelson seemed to pride himself on being able to win while being morbidly obese, Askren seemed to pride himself in being able to win on wrestling alone with almost entirely absent striking skills.

 

[Fraz]

He's gonna look like Anderson Silva now that's he's had surgery

 

[linvillegorge]

You may think you have decent boxing fundamentals TS, but that would go out the window in an instant in an actual fight where you have to defend yourself from a guy trying to kill you while still somehow integrating your offense. It's a whole different thing, I'm sure Ben's striking looks alright when he's hitting mits. He's just never really used it much in a fight so it never advanced at all.

This too. One thing you have to remember is that fighters who "suck" in certain areas suck in those areas compared to elite fighters. There's levels to this shit. Askren has some of the worst striking skills amongst high level MMA fighters but trust and believe he'd box some random Joe up.

 

[Pierced7681]

His striking always was mediocre at best even in bush leagues he used to “dominate” , and it’s hard to improve on your weaknesses, when there is no one to expose them. His UFC run was nosedive and rightfully so, one dimensional bums aren’t needed in this sport

To be fair he fought three killers in the UFC. No shame in beating Lawler and then losing to Mas and Maia.

 

[msg]

But..
How A Hip Replacement Surgery Helped Ben Askren Cure His Back Issues
Ben Askren had to declare an early retirement from the sport of MMA last year after losing to Demian Maia. After his loss to Jorge Masvidal, Askren had lost all the momentum of his early UFC promise.
...
“It’s called the Birmingham hip. What they do is they get it all cleaned up. They cap the top right off and the bone goes into the socket, so they cap the top of it and they clean up the inside and put some on the inside. I am pain free.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/m...rgery-helped-ben-askren-cure-his-back-issues/

What if.. he's just physically incapable of rotating his body into chaining his kinetic energy into strikes?
---------
His hip issues may have indeed impacted his striking abilities, but I imagine they impacted his grappling significantly as well. That said...the Birmingham hip resurfacing procedure is actually in decline due to metallosis- or metal fragments entering the surrounding tissues and poisoning the body, making for worse problems. There is a recall of the birmingham hip so I don't see this as any kind of solution. Bo Jackson tried to play baseball after his hip replacement took him out of football and that too did not go well. Askren is finished as an mma fighter, period. He may be able to train but impact sports wear out the resurfacing implanted in the Birmingham and it is not something he will likely accomplish without destroying his repaired hip. He is a fine athlete and fine teacher of grappling. He should continue teaching and commentating and enjoy his pain free hip instead of trying to wear it out... or worse.

[/QUOTE]

 

[Normot]

It made him a worse fighter. No way it didn't make him worse fighter. But his striking has always sucked. Even prime hip Askren had terrible striking.

 

[Normot]

My assumption is it’s easier to look good in practice when you don’t have a killer trying to knock you out...

Has he had bad hips his entire career from his wrestling days? My guess is he never needed striking to dominate in the b leagues so he didn’t train it much. Looking at his physique he clearly isn’t as dedicated as some...(this is coming from someone who enjoys his schtick)

He has said in the past he knew he wouldn't be able to outstrike people. He spent a year practicing just striking in order to defend against strikers.

I understand his theory but it was a bad theory. Could have been striking for 10 years and it would actually been servicable at it by the time he was in the UFC. Or maybe not.