Ben Askren won his Octagon debut, but it didcome with some controversy. After surviving some heavy ground-and-pound from Robbie Lawler early into the first round at UFC 235, ‘Funky’ managed to catch the former champion with a bulldog choke and score a submission win, but it was unclear if ‘Ruthless’ was ever unconscious from the hold. On Twitter, pro fighters were not happy with the result.
Lawler looked entirely out from a bully choke, and I thought he went limp too, but turns out he was ok? Askren gets the win in what was a crazy fight #ufc235
— Sarah Kaufman (@mmasarah) March 3, 2019
Wow @HerbDeanMMA should never ref another fight again!