It took all of five seconds for Jorge Masvidal to knock out Ben “Funky” Askren and record the fastest KO in UFC history, beating out previous record-holder Duane Ludwig by a whole second.
Masvidal came charging at his opponent with a flying knee as Askren appeared to try and go for a takedown. Masvidal’s knee connected to Askren’s temple and the fighter immediately fell to the mat. Before the ref could stop the fight, Masvidal was able to punch an unconscious Funky twice in the head. He then celebrated alongside his opponent’s body
While some might see the extra blows Masvidal was able to get in on Askren as excessive, the fight’s winner defended his actions to reporters at his post-fight press conference.
“They were super necessary,” Masvidal told reporters, including MMA Junkie, about the shots that landed before an official stoppage in the pay-per-view bout at T-Mobile Arena.
Masvidal’s position is that an opponent is fair game until the referee intervenes, and critics who say otherwise don’t appreciate the sport.
“The referee hadn’t pulled me off, and my job is to hit somebody until the referee pulls me off,” Masvidal said. “So to those people, I would say maybe don’t watch MMA. Go back to soccer.”
MMA Junkie pointed out that most athletic commissions that oversee UFC events would be fine with how Masvidal approached the end of the fight—even if they wouldn’t use his exact wording—as the punches came before the referee waved the fight off. But even if he didn’t have the legal backing, Masvidal would probably still have this opinion on the subject considering he’s the guy who was prepared to interrupt his own post-fight interview to fight Leon Edwards backstage.
Askren was not available for comment immediately afterwards, and if you saw video of his walk out of the octagon, you’d understand why. Funky was not able to leave the cage on his own and, to be quite honest, I’m not entirely sure he knew where he was during his walk towards backstage.
story written & credited to Gabe Fernandez / DeadSpin
