Ben Askren Wins MMA Debut at Headhunters 'Patriot Act'
by Zak Woods on Feb 8, 2009 12:11 PM EST
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Headhunter Productions 'Patriot Act' occurred last night with a dual main event, featuring UFC veteran Din Thomas and U.S. Olympic wrestler Ben Askren.
In the main event Din Thomas defeated Dustin Pieken. Pieken secured a takedown early in the first round and remained in a dominant position for the rest of the round. However, Din Thomas's guard neutralized Pieken's advantage. As the round was drawing to a close Thomas secured a triangle choke, Pieken tried to slam Thomas but couldn't follow through and tapped out. Din Thomas is now 23-8 in his professional career.
Ben Askren had an impressive MMA debut against Josh Flowers. Askren had said in an earlier interview that he was uncomfortable with his stand up. It showed early as Flowers tagged him with a left hook, but Askren followed that punch with an immediate double leg takedown. From their the fight went according to script for the former Olympic wrestler. Askren secured Flowers back, then flattened him out while landing consistent punches. The referee stopped the fight and Askren won his MMA debut via TKO.
Askren fought at 170lbs. once again showing that the welterweight division will have a continuous supply of talented collegiate wreslters anxious to make the transition to MMA. This was Askren's professional debut.
Headhunter Productions streamed the entire event live online via Purefight.org, other promotions should take note, this is a great way to garner interest for regional MMA. While the video and audio did cut out from time to time, it was still an excellent mechanism to follow the debut of a talented wrestler. The entire nights worth of fights can be viewed at Purefight.org.
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Good stuff.
Here are the links for the Kiko France/Corey Hill and Din Thomas/Dustin Pieken fights.
"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR
Askren looks like a 155lb fighter waiting to happen in that clip.
Did you see the love handles on that guy? Dude had 10lbs hanging out on his hips!
But seriously, 155 or 170, he’s got extreme upside. He’d be better off fighting at 155 for now, probably, since the 170 divisions are just so HUGE physically these days. I’m 6’3" and weigh about 200lbs right now, but if I were in good shape there’s no way I’d fight the 170 guys. I’d drop down to 155, no question, which is about where I wrestled in high school.
‘Day of’ weigh-ins are completely different from 24 hour priors. A guy like Askren could easily drop to 155, and lose literally nothing of his size or strength. Wrestling ~170 equals fighting MMA at 155.
Excited for the dude’s career.
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
I see you point on the possible weight cut, but I have to trust the wretler to be fighting his optimal weight. Could def be wrong though
watchkalibrun.com
True enough about letting those guys make the best decisions.
The one thing I’ll note is that I trained with a few (five?) state champions at various weight classes in my school, and whenever one of them was coming back from an injury or whatever, he’d come back and wrestle one weight class up, just so he didn’t have to drain himself during the workout cycle.
I would guess that’s what Askren’s doing here..while he’s doing the small-time shows, on irregular schedules, he’s not going to cycle hard. The weight cutting process in MMA takes two to three weeks, depending on how serious you are, and Askren was originally slated for another fight in like two weeks from now.
My guess is he’ll end up at 155, but until he makes the big time promotions, he’ll keep fighting ‘up’ a weight class,=.
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
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