We may have the greatest ground battle in MA history! (Askren vs. Maia)

[MadMardigain 1,021]

Ben Askren the quintessential wrestling ground grappler vs. Damian Maia the purist of MMA BBJ experts to clash Sat. Oct. 26.  Striking will be minimal in this one based on both of their backgrounds.  I’d say Maia has the advantage on paper based on UFC MMA ground game experience, but wrestling fans have to be cheering for Askren to best the BBJ expect.  Can the “Funky One” find a way to prove he is the best ground technician in the game?

Edited October 19 by MadMardigain

[Graverobber 35]

Actually I think it will be not a good match to watch... Like you said, Askren is excellent with his Grappling but "no match" for the BJJ of Maia and we already saw a fight between Maia and Woodley. I think the Match will be similar to Maia vs Woodley, Maia will try to take Askren down and Askren is good enough to avoid the takedowns of Maia. I also think it would be stupid to fight with Maia on the ground, because it's simply a great risk, he won against a bunch of wrestlers like Neil Magny, Chael Sonnen, Rick Story and Jon Fitch but also lost against every Wrestler that avoided his Takedowns, just to name a few : Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, Woodley, Munoz and Weidman

[Alwayswrestling 149]

I think Askren wins this fairly easy but for most UFC fans that just want to see brutal knockouts they will be booing.  

[MadMardigain 1,021]

Maia wins by 3rd round rear naked choke.  I wasn’t able to watch the fight, but from reading some of the MMA websites round score cards their “judges” had it scored decently close fight up until the tap out.  Lots of back and forth on who was in control, but it sounded like Maia always seems to come of t he ground exchanges with the advantage.   The play by play made it sound like Ben was able to roll well enough to avoid some tough position, which shows he’s came a long way in his BBJ game.  However, he was getting put in those tough positions often enough to show he still need mat time to gain the awareness of the move coming.  But what is also clear is how much of a high level MMA BBJ player Maia is compared to rest of the UFC field.  

[Broomstick 23]

Based on what the score cards said, I guess Ben had a decent chance to win that fight if it went to a decision.  I watched the end and it looked like he practically gave up, but that is probably just an illusion caused by how slick Maia is with the RNC. 

All in all, it was the most stand up I have ever seen in any of Askren's several fights that I have watched and it was awful to watch.  I don't see how Ben keeps fighting as there seems to be no reason left for the UFC to promote his fights and his paydays would be diminished.

[mspart 153]

Perhaps he gets one more.  Askren is a cash cow but one more loss will be really bad.  His first loss was a fluke, I put nothing into that.  This fight with Maia was his but he got overconfident (his own words).  You have to have discipline in MMA.  Perhaps he is done, perhaps not.  If not, he has one more fight I think.  Lose and it is over.  Win and he could fight again and climb the ladder.  But when asked about his next fight, Ben said he'd have to go back home and think about it.  Perhaps this was his last fight.

mspart

[Alwayswrestling 149]

I was very surprised by this results in that as good as Maia is I just thought Askren would be able counter with his wresting(obviously wrong here).  Not sure where Askren goes from here or if he even wants too.