How good was Ben askren in his prime?

[Peli]

Was he good? Or was he always overrated and it finally got exposed once he came to the ufc?

 

[chitoortiz]

Was he good? Or was he always overrated and it finally got exposed once he came to the ufc?

We'll never know.

He wasn't really challenged in his prime too often. Didn't really fight top comptition.

Even the Lima fight....Lima was very early into his career.

 

[FIGHTING TALK]

Great folk style wrestling but ultimately incredibly limited.
Mostly fought smaller, less experienced opposition.
Exposed in all three of his UFC fights.
5/10

 

[Fatality]

No way to know because he didn't fight top level opposition during his so-called prime.

 

[TheMessiah]

Not great. Most of his wins come against guys with no wrestling. He should have lost to Jay Hieron and Sapo smashed him before he had to eye poke. Can't believe he thought he could beat Hendricks lol

 

[sampuncher]

He was good, people won't admit it because they've only seen his UFC run or they just don't like him but he has very solid wins in Lima, Koreshkov, Aoki and for a while was regarded the best MMA fighter not signed to the UFC.

I don't think he'd have ever have been champ but definitely a mainstay in the top 10 but the bottom half, he'd have been the same position we see guys like Neal, Luque, Magny hang around at for me.

 

[13Seconds]

His wrestling was so unorthodox to the level where it was hard for fighters to find anyone who resembles him in training. He was also a master of chain wrestling and control. All of that made him a weird style matchup for anyone.

Hard to tell but i think he would've def been top 5 for a while in the UFC. Peak Askren was around 2013-3014.
That's when Hendricks and Lawler were tearing through the division. Those guys would beat him bad imo. Maia and Rory was in there too and they would beat him. Lombard was looking scary too. Damn now that im writing this im realizing how stacked the UFC WW division was at this point. With Woodley and Gastelum on the rise.

Askren would have a hard time.

 

[DoctorDeelon]

I think what we got to see from him wasn't that far past his prime. His grappling would have made him a tough fight for most guys, but he was obviously extremely limited standing up. People say Khabib is one dimensional, but Askren makes Khabib look like a K1 champion.

IMO he would have been a mid-card gatekeeper, beating the B and even B+ level guys, but never winning a championship.

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

He is good but not great. I’m surprised how much he was able to achieve while being relatively unathletic compared to his peers. GSP, prime Lawler, Hendricks, Rory would’ve all crushed him.

 

[JustBleed69]

Was he good? Or was he always overrated and it finally got exposed once he came to the ufc?

He was good, very good, but never champ level material.
If you look at just about all the modern era ufc champs they all have their specialty, but are also well rounded. Ben was a pure specialist, not well rounded at all, and would have gotten eaten alive by the very upper top tier always.

Also Ben came into the UFC shop worn and older.

 

[greenhawk]

Askren was a decent fighter just not UFC champ material. If u watch his fights in OneFC and Bellator,it was all the same. Rush for a TD, get it and eat hard shots in the process . He was a great grappler but thats about it.

The fact that he managed to remain undefeated for so long in MMA with ZERO striking shows you how well he adapted to the game.

But unfortunately for him, the UFC fighters he faced were all experienced folks who've fought many One-Dimensional wrestlers like him and hence he got exposed very badly here.

 

[gluehuffer1776]

He would easily decision prime GSP

 

[xentreos]

its really hard to say. I will say his game was exceptional, very very unique. I just dont think he could adjust once the fireworks started coming his way.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I think if he'd been in the UFC in his prime he would have been kinda like Maia in that he'd have been around the top of the division for years but probably not quite able to get over the line of being champion.

 

[Elephino]

Champion in 2 organizations but the phrase "Prime Askren" doesn't really exist.

 

[beastman]

UFC Champion, no.

But very very good. Injuries just started to pile up at the end. He started MMA much later than most in the modern era. It definitely would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he went straight from NCAA champ to training.

 

[dogsdonutsdragons]

im pretty sure ben will get exposed as a wrestler not a fighter when he boxes jake paul. i'm also pretty sure bens the kind of guy who skipped striking and wanted to win fights on wrestling and wrestling only.

 

[McSpikes]

I always said that he would to terrible in the UFC and that exactly what happened, i i guess i will go with "always overrated" although I'm pretty sure their weren't very many people saying anything more than "I would like to see how he would so in ufc"

The hype wasnt on Lombards level

 

[FrankDux]

Was he good? Or was he always overrated and it finally got exposed once he came to the ufc?

Ask Robbie Lawler.

 

[KID Yamamoto]

He took a lot of damage to get the positions he wanted. Dude was durable and a fantastic wrestler. But he had favorable matchups consistently. His best wins are a young Lima and Aoki who was way undersized and old too.