The Internet Thought Something Weird Was Going On With How Easily Jake Paul Beat Ben Askren

The latest example of boxing being used as a spectacle over a sport occurred on Saturday night when Triller put on an event headlined by a bout between internet personality Jake Paul and decorated wrestler/mixed martial artist Ben Askren. In what could only have been described as an event that tried to be more than a boxing card, Paul ended the evening quickly, picking up a victory over Askren via TKO in round one.

Askren, a former Olympic wrestler who has accrued a 19-2 career in the UFC, did not look to be expecting anything other than a slow, calculated flight. So as Paul came out and threw haymakers, obviously looking for a first round knockout, he was unable to do much of anything, and with one right hook, the fight came to an end.

The fight caught the eye of the Twitterverse, in part because plenty of folks looked back on one particular fight in Askren’s UFC career and believed something weird was going on here.

https://twitter.com/LakeShowYo/status/1383647197166665732
https://twitter.com/chrisfnonyt/status/1383647516789407746

Askren was all smiles walking out of the ring, leading to further questions about his priorities.

https://twitter.com/JrMoneyGettin/status/1383648189249511427

https://twitter.com/Prime_VC/status/1383648502178140167
https://twitter.com/bansky/status/1383644244020060169

But otherwise, the Twitterverse came together to get a bunch of jokes off over the entire thing, with a special shout out to the last guy to fight Paul, Nate Robinson.

https://twitter.com/PartTimeMavsFan/status/1383643604590026752

https://twitter.com/JZepeda_13/status/1383643391330709510

https://twitter.com/AkivaElefant/status/1383644018379083778

https://twitter.com/30SecFights/status/1383647325772423172

https://twitter.com/treboltontweets/status/1383648030809739286

Even Stephen A. Smith, who I do not think sleeps, got in on the fun.

It stands to reason Paul will keep getting fights after this. As for Askren, well, let’s just say if we see him fight again, we expect that it’ll be in the Octagon and not in the ring.