Askren gets him down and keeps him down all 3 rds for a comfortable victory imo. I'm a Masvidal fan but at welter he is very undersized and is not really a factor at the top of the division.
I'm nervous and excited to see Masvidal kick the overrated Askrens ass which would also save the welterweight division from having yet another boring wrestler at the top of the division. Askren will obviously be desperate to get this fight to the ground asap to avoid getting ****ed up and exposed like he did against Lawler, hopefully Masvidal has been working extra hard on his TD defense and ways to punish Askren with knees etc when he inevitably keeps going for TDs since it's his only way to win.
Picking Masvidal here. Masvidal has to be in the same class as Christian Mijares and Glen Johnson in terms of losing questionable split decisions (Maia, Ben Henderson, Yaquinta, plenty of others). I don't think Askren's grappling is nearly as unstoppable as guys like Rogan, Brendan Schaub, Chael Sonnen etc. advertise. Lawler nearly finished him in the first 90 seconds, but before that Jay Hieron largely shut him down, and the most forgotten one was his no contest against 'Sapo' Santos. Sapo had dropped Ben with a leg kick and Ben was frantically diving for low singles the whole first round before jamming a digit into Sapo's eye socket. That was pure 'panic wrestling'. I think Masvidal has good defensive grappling, as evidenced by the Maia fight. He stayed safe and really only ended up on the ground when Maia did his really one of a kind half guard baseball slide to the back via underhook sequence. No real way to prepare for that. But I think Masvidal will stuff enough takedowns from Askren, and get up enough that he has enough time on the feet to light Askren up.
Top fight. Pretty easy one to analyze too. Either Askren clinic on the mat or a savage Masvidal mauling standing up. I lean slightly towards the former but not with a lot of confidence. The first round will be telling I think.
I don't see either beating Usman so it's probably not relevant. Don't see how he was exposed against Lawler though, if anything that fight showed he was tougher than most expected.
Yeah Usman would be a deserved favourite over both guys,with a Askren v Usman title fight something nobody wants to watch. Askren certainly showed toughness fighting his 1st decent opponent in 5+years but we saw like when he fought Luis Santos how 1 dimensional he is, if he can't get the fight to the ground he is almost clueless and doesn't have a hope at winning. Prime Lawler wouldn't have taken his foot off the throat and if a faded fringe top 10 guy can do that to Askren imagine what the top guys who almost all have excellent TD defence will do to him.
I think masvidal is more focused then ever and is the most complete fighter in mma. I think his athleticism and scrambling ability is gonna enable him to beat the hell out of askren. Askren can take it and that he will. I think Ben is underestimating Jorge. That mummy walk forward askren did to lawler is not gonna work. Jorge beats him up. The size advantage usman has over masvidal will hurt him. I think usman will strike with masvidal. No guy who cuts all that weight is taking those kicks to the side without gassing. That’s what took it out of till if you go back and watch.
It's no secret that Askren is one dimensional. But he's great at that dimension and utilizing it in the cage lol. Like a new age Fitch.
