What can you say about a boxing match that doesn’t even last a full round? That’s what happened in the heavily promoted matchup between Youtuber Jake Paul and former UFC fighter Ben Askren, which took place Saturday as the main event at the Triller Fight Club.
In fact, it didn’t even last a full minute. Askren barely connected if at all, and Paul took him out with a hard right. Askren recovered quickly from the knockdown but the referee ended it anyway, even as Askren tried to go on.
That was it. The whole thing.
After the match, Paul said, “I deserved that shit.”
“This is the craziest moment of my life,” he continued, “I told y’all I was going to do it in the first round. I told y’all I’m a real fighter. I don’t know how many times I got to prove myself that this is for real.”
Paul dedicated his fight to a member of his security team who recently passed away. “This has been the hardest 10 days of my life,” he said regarding the death, “I’ve had to hold it together to keep this fight going. I’m just honored to be here.”
Jake Paul is now 3-0 in his pro boxing career, having already defeated YouTuber AnEsonGib and former NBA pro Nate Robinson.
Ben Askren tweeted an apology — sort of — after his loss.
Social media reaction to the fight was mixed between fans of Paul celebrating the victory and other viewers who pretty much thought the whole thing was a farce.
The best commentary, however, probably came from Saturday Night Live‘s Pete Davidson, who acted as a fight correspondent throughout the event. Here’s just a partial list of some of his best lines, via Yahoo Sports:
- “Today is a really wild day for boxing, because it just shows just how low it’s truly sunk.”
- “I think today proves the fact that if you have enough followers, you can truly fucking do whatever you want. Maybe PewDiePie will cure cancer, and Charlie D’Amelio will become a surgeon. Who knows?”
- “Tonight, we have a bout between Ben Askren — I don’t know who that is, still, and I’ve been reading up on him all week — and Jake Paul. They both suck, but at least somebody’s gonna get hurt.”
- “This is fucking nuts, dude, what the fuck am I doing? I’m trying to be a serious actor.”
- “I’m thinking I need to call my agent and fire him.”
- [to Paul] “You remind me of when Charlie Sheen went on his winning tirade.”
- “How do you feel being part of this psycho event?”
- “That’s the message we’re trying to get to the kids, that he is a piece of shit.”
What’s next for Jake Paul? He’s apparently aiming for no less than The Notorious MMA himself, Conor McGregor. And it’s not a pipe dream. Paul has already said that “we’re a lot closer to a Jake Paul-Conor McGregor fight than anyone thinks.”
In fact, Paul thinks “it could happen in the next 24 months.”
A match between two fighters who really enjoy playing the heel? No one will know who to root for. Either way, everyone will clean up, money-wise. After all, MMA Fighting reports Ben Askren took home “a minimum” of $500,000 for his troubles.
There are plenty of people inside combat sports and outside as well who would happily take a hard right to the face for a half-million dollars.
