Robbie Lawler was the first fighter to welcome Ben Askren to the UFC, so it was all the more interesting to see how he reacted to the latter’s first defeat.
Askren received a rude awakening when he was dropped on his head by Lawler in their UFC 235 matchup back in March. “Funky” was close to being knocked out as well, as Lawler rained down ruthless ground and pound. However, Askren survived and later got the win in controversial fashion with a bulldog choke that never put Lawler out.
Instead of a rematch, Askren was booked to face Jorge Masvidal this past weekend at UFC 239 and became the recipient of the fastest knockout in UFC history after getting knocked out cold with a flying knee in just five seconds.
So what were Lawler’s thoughts? The former welterweight champion kept it short and simple.
“It was a rough fight but Masvidal’s my buddy so I was excited for him,” Lawler said on Ebro in the Morning.
Many criticized Masvidal in the aftermath of his knockout as he taunted an unconscious Askren and continued to harbor a dislike for the former Bellator and ONE Championship star.
However, Lawler had no problems with it, especially given Askren’s trash talking leading up to the contest.
“I know Askren runs his mouth and when you run your mouth, stuff like this happens,” Lawler explained. “When someone is running their mouth, then you gotta fight. I’m an old school guy where I don’t think Masvidal did anything wrong. He was celebrating, he handled himself as a professional.
“If you don’t want somebody to dance on top of you, you don’t get beat up, you don’t run your mouth.”
