Despite his accolades in wrestling, Ben Askren wasn’t impressed with Charles Oliveira’s dominant grappling performance during his BMF title clash against Max Holloway at UFC 326.
‘Funky’ was an exceptional collegiate wrestler during his time competing for the Missouri Tigers. A two-time NCAA Division I champion with a record of 155-8, Askren is considered one of the best college wrestlers of all time. While not achieving as much success as others, his relentless style, coupled with his technical skill and consistency, firmly cements him among the top NCAA wrestlers.
With all of his credentials in the sport, most would assume Ben Askren would side with Charles Oliveira following his performance on March 7, but that didn’t happen. Oliveira has faced much backlash since he grappled his way to victory against Max Holloway, and Askren is the latest to add to the criticism.
“This is going to be wild coming from me. Real wild,” Askren said. “What if they did a three-takedown maximum on BMF title fights? Three takedown maximum, or you only get a minute on top to this effect… No, [I didn’t like the fight]; it was boring. Terribly boring.”
“Well, listen, even if I was a grappler, and well, [for one] it felt weird because it was a BMF fight. But number two is Charles did not, it was kind of like the [Khamzat] Chimaev fight, where Charles didn’t take chances on top. He wasn’t really aggressive with it.”
Questioning why Oliveira was favoring the takedown despite beating Holloway with the striking, Askren shared his theory.
“He was winning the striking,” Askren continued. “But was he? But this one where, this is why I did okay in striking in MMA: Was he winning the striking because the other guy was scared of the takedown? Like, that’s definitely a possibility because Max Holloway had zero ability to get up… 21 minutes on bottom or something like that. It was something crazy.”