Ben Askren has been dominating the news recently, and it has nothing to do with MMA. ‘Funky’, the former two-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner, will take on one of the most controversial names in the sport in Jake Paul.

The YouTube star earned a name for himself after viciously knocking out Nate Robinson on the co-main event of Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jr. With a reported 1.8 million PPVs sold, the event was an extremely successful one. 

He used the platform to call out the likes of Conor McGregor and Dillon Danis. Although none of the aforementioned fights worked out, an unlikely opponent in 36-year-old Ben Askren will be ‘The Problem Child’s’ next in-ring adversary. 

How will the result of the fight against Jake Paul affect Ben Askren?

Ben Askren came into the UFC as a highly touted and highly accomplished champion who was undefeated. In his first fight in the UFC, he beat a former champion in Robbie Lawler, albeit it was not the most convincing win. 

However, it was his second fight in the UFC that wiped out all his credibility as Jorge Masvidal knocked him out in a record-breaking 5-seconds. The loss to Demian Maia was the final nail in the coffin, after which he called it quits on his MMA career as he needed a hip replacement surgery. 

An MMA page even trolled ‘Funky’ by using a chain to show how he is better than Muhammad Ali.

When the fight was announced, it was met with a lot of criticism, as MMA fans and fighters alike felt that ‘Funky’ was not the best person to represent MMA.

It is no secret that Askren does not have the best striking in the game and getting in a boxing ring against a much younger and hungrier opponent, albeit a vastly inexperienced opponent, is a risky proposition. 

As the saying goes in combat sports, ‘you’re only as good as your last fight’. If the seasoned professional, ‘Funky’, was to lose against a YouTuber, Paul, it will erase a lot of his accomplishments.  

However, if ‘Funky’ can pull off a win over ‘Problem Child’ he will win over most of the MMA fans.