UFC 239 featured two title fights, but it was Jorge Masvidal who stole the show during the pay-per-view main card. Askren entered his bout against former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren with plenty of bad blood, and he didn’t need long to send a clear message to the rest of the 170-pound division.
Masvidal took two steps to his right when the fight began, before charging at Askren and delivering a perfectly timed and placed flying knee that immediately separated Askren from consciousness and handed him the first loss of his career.
The knockout took just five seconds, a new UFC record for fastest knockout in history.
Of course, plenty of fans were saying that Masvidal’s quick knockout was a lucky shot or that it was simply a fluke. But a video from Masvidal’s coach at American Top Team, former WEC champion Mike Brown, shows another story.
Masvidal spent plenty of time training the exact technique — which included the sidesteps. That led to a perfect foreshadowing of his finish just 48 hours before the cage doors were locked behind him
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzoEMzEB8Re/?utm_source=ig_embed
The start to the fight went exactly as Masvidal, his trainers, and teammates at American Top Team had planned.
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) July 7, 2019
Mike brown and masvidal told me last night at dinner he was gonna Start this fight with a flying knee and showed me video on Mike's phone of him practicing
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) July 7, 2019
And here is the actual finish.
Masvidal absolutely destroyed Ben Askren at UFC 239. I've never seen anything like this before. The fight was over before I even blinked. https://t.co/ktl3GqWG7U
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) July 7, 2019
Take a bow, Jorge.
The full results from UFC 239 can be seen below.
UFC 239 Results
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzmdvtPHCwr/
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10:00 p.m. ET)
- Jon Jones def. Thiago Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) for the light heavyweight title
- Amanda Nunes def. Holly Holm via TKO (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 4:10 for the women’s bantamweight title
- Jorge Masvidal def. Ben Askren via KO (flying knee) – Round 1, 0:05
- Jan Blachowicz def. Luke Rockhold via KO (punches) – Round 2, 1:39
- Michael Chiesa def. Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Arnold Allen def. Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Marlon Vera def. Nohelin Hernandez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:25
- Claudia Gadelha def. Randa Markos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Song Yadong def. Alejandro Perez via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 2:04
- Edmen Shahbazyan def. Jack Marshman via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:12
- Chance Rencountre def. Ismail Naurdiev via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Julia Avila def. Pannie Kianzad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
