Askren responds to Paul KO conspiracy theories ahead of Silva fight

Ben Askren has responded to accusations that he took a dive during his first-round knockout loss to Jake Paul last year. The former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion said that the theories are false and that the people that believe them are idiots.

Askren fought Paul in the YouTube star’s third professional boxing bout back in April 2021 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, Paul had only fought fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and NBA star Nate Robinson in the paid ranks.

The decision to face a professional fighter was a significant stepping stone for Paul’s career and drew a great deal of attention from the wider world. Askren is known for his wrestling and not his striking but the question of whether a young internet personality with limited boxing experience could beat a man who had fought his entire life intrigued audiences.

Of course, Paul stopped Askren that night with a clubbing right hand after just two minutes of action leaving many fans in utter disbelief. As a result, conspiracies began to circulate that the fight was fixed and that Askren had taken a dive for more money.

Responding to those accusations during an interview with Fight Hub TV, Askren said: “They’re idiots. That’s obviously false. The one thing that his team tried to do, and it will be funny to see their reaction if they respond to this… One day, his guy called me, and he said it was Triller and that’s nonsense.

“He said, ‘Triller are worried you’re going to do some MMA moves.’ I said, ‘well I’m not, and?’ He said, ‘well, how about you sign a contract that you’ll get fined $100,000 for every time you do an MMA move’ and I said ‘well, I already signed a contract why would I do that? That’s stupid’. And he’s like ‘well come on, it would make Jake feel good and Triller really wants it.’

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“’It’s like is there a plus for me or is there only a minus here, how about if I don’t do one then you pay an extra $100,000?’ And he’s like ‘no’ and I’m like ‘well, then get lost.’ That’s the only time anything like that happened.”

He added: “The math that people don’t do on this one because most people are too stupid is that if I beat up Jake Paul, you realise I can do whatever I want. If I want to beat up his brother, I can beat up his brother. If I want to box someone else, I can box someone else. I’m going to make so much more money if I beat him up so the notion that I would take money to not beat him up is preposterous.”

Paul’s next fight takes place on October 29 against former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The pair square off at the Gila River Arena in Glendale Arizona, live on Showtime PPV.