Ben Askren vs Demian Maia: UFC Fighters’ Predictions and Picks

Ben Askren takes on Demian Maia in the main event of UFC Singapore on October 26th. Ben Askren, who came into the UFC with an unbeaten record and multiple organization championship in his resume, finds himself in a peculiar position going into this fight with former number one title contender, Demian Maia.

Although the loss against Jorge Masvidal was the first loss in Askren’s MMA career it has cost him dearly by derailing him from the path to a title shot. However, a win over UFC veteran, Demian Maia would make a strong case that Ben Askren is good enough to compete at the highest level. On the other hand, coming off two wins, Demian Maia would try to keep the momentum for another crack at the UFC title.

Both Ben Askren and Demian Maia are two of the elite grapplers in UFC at the moment and that makes it very difficult to give a prediction for this fight. However, here is what some of the UFC fighters think about the matchup between ben Askren and Demian Maia.

In a recent interview with ScoreMMA, UFC lightweight, Kevin Lee predicted Askren to dominate Maia with his wrestling and said:

“I am gonna go with ben. I got to go with wrestling over jiu-jitsu. So Ben Askren in that one.”

UFC welterweight, Stephen Thompson is also leaning towards Askren to get the job done:

“To be honest with you, I think Ben Askren got it. I think he is going to outwrestle Demian Maia. Demian Maia, he does use his grappling, he loves the top game, he is okay off his back, he has got his submissions, but I think Ben Askren’s pressure, I think he is going to outwrestle him and come out with a W”.

UFC heavyweight, Curtis Blaydes picked the Funky One to rag doll Maia as he said:

“Askren is going to rag doll him. I think Askren just takes him down, takes him down again, even though Demian is better off his back, I think he takes him down, stays safe, wins the round.”

Former UFC champion, Tyron Woodley makes a huge claim by saying :

“Ben Askren is gonna school Demian Maia. Jake Shields kind of wrote the book on how to …You get to get Damian Maia to the mat, you can not be in his half guard but you get to get him to the ground. You got to pressure him because if you allow him to do it to you, he is long, he is static he can hang there, and Ben did extremely well against Jake Shields.“

Askren’s rival and former interim welterweight champion, Colby Covington blasts Askren by saying ” he sucks at fighting“. Covington predicted:

“I see Damian Maia get the submission or knocking him out. It’s either going to be a submission or knock out for Damian Maia. Askren has no chin. he sucks at fighting. Literally, he could not hurt a fly, sitting on someone’s mouth for five rounds and could not put a scratch on the guy’s face.“

UFC lightweight, Dan Hooker predicted:

“I think Maia is going to put on a striking clinic. I feel like it’s kind of cancels it out. Demian Maia is not really the kind of guy you want to take down. This is the guy who went 5 rounds with on the peak Anderson Silva, I think he is of a higher level caliber striking than Ben Askren. I think he puts on a striking”

UFC welterweight, James Vick favored Askren’s wrestling to Maia’s grappling when he said:

“This is a good match up for Demian Maia. Because he can win the fight on the back. He is probably going to get taken down. I don’t see he is going to stop all of Askren’s takedown. But he is a guy who can legit win on his back. Askren has probably 10 years of Jiu-Jitsu already under his belt too. He is not a blue belt wrestler, he is a black belt wrestler. I am gonna go with Askren. As good as Demian Maia’s jiu-jitsu is he has lost 5 round fights with Jake Shields. I am gonna take Askren”