Ben Askren’s UFC career came crashing down with brutal five-second KO in round 1

Ben Askren heads into a boxing match with Jake Paul this weekend knowing it’s near-enough impossible to suffer a more brutal defeat than the one he slumped to at UFC 239.

Askren, who is set to take on the YouTube sensation at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday night, was handed the fastest defeat in UFC history when he met Jorge Masvidal back in July 2019.

Following an unsavoury war of words in the build-up, ‘Funky’ received the biggest humbling of his career when Masvidal raced in straight from the opening bell and knocked him out cold with a ferocious flying knee to the head.

Just five seconds into their highly-billed contest Askren was left unconscious on the canvas, where Masvidal whipped in two more punches before the referee intervened.

That astonishing knockout marginally surpassed the previous record for the fastest KO in UFC history held by Duane Ludwig, which was set at six seconds.

It proved a bitter pill for Askren to swallow, and after suffering a submission defeat in his next UFC outing against Demian Maia he decided to bow out from MMA.

The American then underwent surgery and appeared to be enjoying life as a retired fighter, but now he is gearing up for a unique boxing battle with online superstar Paul.

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    • The pair are set to lock horns this Saturday night in Atlanta, where Paul will be making only the third professional outing of his boxing career.

    He has only ever competed in the ring against fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and former NBA star Nate Robinson, claiming impressive knockout victories on both occasions.

    Paul has risen to fame on YouTube in recent years, amassing over 20 million subscribers on the video-sharing platform.

    His brother Logan has also ventured into boxing of late and is expected to do battle with pound-for-pound legend Floyd Mayweather at some point this year.

    READ MORE:Jake Paul offers to 'double' Ben Askren's purse as fight with MMA star takes new twist

    READ MORE:Jake Paul's incredible car collection includes £165k Lambo and custom-made Tesla

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