Ben Askren was taken to a Las Vegas hospital on Saturday night after suffering a brutal knockout just five seconds into the opening round in his fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239.
The fight ended in dramatic fashion after Masvidal rushed across the cage and launched a flying knee that blasted Askren in the side of the head and knocked him unconscious almost instantaneously. Masvidal then followed up with two more punches before the referee was able to get in between them to stop the fight.
Askren remained motionless on the canvas for several moments after the knockout and was later helped out of the cage once he got back to his feet.
He was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures but UFC president Dana White passed along some good news on Askren at the post fight press conference.
“He’s good,” White said about Askren. “All of his stuff came back negative so he’s OK. I’m sure he’s not OK [with the loss] but he’s [good enough].”
For his part, Askren took to Twitter to sum up his evening after suffering the first loss of his career in what ended up as the fastest knockout in UFC history.
“Well that sucked,” Askren wrote.
Well that sucked
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) July 7, 2019
Askren was retired prior to a trade that brought him to the UFC last year as part of a deal with ONE Championship. He returned to action with hopes of adding the UFC welterweight championship to his resume but now he’ll have to decide on his future after suffering a devastating knockout on Saturday night.