Masvidal Breaks Down His Famous Ben Askren Knockout

It takes a lot of attrition and conditioning and skill to do that, but when guys fight like that, they're doing the complete opposite of fighting. They're doing everything in their power for them not to land the blow and me not to land the blow. And it's kind of like you're almost trying too hard to sniff a crotch or sniff an armpit, you know. It's fighting, but it's also entertainment, you know. And he wasn't finishing guys, he's just literally hugging guys to death, you know. My perspective was I'm fascinated to see who he can do that to. Because he did that to a lot of guys. I mean, he did it to a lot of guys. Guys that were like killers. And he just put that fucking wrestling on him. You know, and the beautiful thing about the way you knocked him out is you preyed on his instincts. You went at an angle and then right to him and his instinct was just automatically to grab you. That is one of the most iconic photos in the history of the fucking sport. You know, also from... And then you use that even in your papers. Let's just show... Let go. Jorge has papers. Trio 5 baby. Trio 5 papers. And it says at the bottom, super necessary. Let's go man. It's super necessary you get them papers. But yeah, knockout, I mean, I remember watching that going, oh my god. You know, a lot of it was also psychological, man. I knew from hanging out that he wasn't good in adapting. It's like, hey, you got to come prove it now. Something like that. I was saying like all that shit talking, you got to do it now. Go to the side and then boom, right in. Out cold. But the whole thing is the walking over him that really gets him, the change of speed. I saw that on Twitter. I always like to study my dudes in different ways, but I saw that in a... It's the best decision. In your celebration. On Twitter, I saw that he was very witty and always constantly writing shit like that. I'm like, he's a dork and a nerd, but he's got a little bit of wit behind the computer screen. When I saw him face to face every time and it was straight, my cue versus yours, improvisation versus your improvisation. And maybe you've been thinking about some super shit for like a month and you'll say it to me now. But he froze up every single time. These were like a lot of encounters we had off camera. I remember I saw him and I was like, ducked off in a corner and he was walking by this room like, well, I'm just going to spring up on this dude and scare the living shit at him. So I did pop up on him, hands behind my back, literally short circuit. Hey, hey, hey, master, I heard you're a very tough guy. I got to use your bathroom and I'm following, no, no, no, let's talk, but I just want to talk. Don't worry, I'm not going to do nothing. Let me talk to you, bro. Why are you such a corny motherfucker? And I'm just trying to provide him. And I noticed every single time that it was unscripted, un-improvised like that, that just spur of the moment, short circuit, couldn't fucking keep it together. So I was like, I not only need to run at him, but I need to have like a change of speed because that's going to make him go into his natural crotch sniffing inksinks. If I just change the speed on him, he's going to fucking duck. So that's why I came out slow, cut the little angle and let him like, oh, okay, you know, we're going to circle it up. As soon as I change speed, what does he do? What is fucking initial inksinks is a fucking crotch sniffer and go sniff the crotch and say you're going to kiss his knee goodbye. That was one of the greatest knockouts in the history of the sport without a doubt. I mean, one of the best ever. Thank you, sir. It doesn't take up too much of your time. You know, you got that. You want to see that body real quick. Bam. You know, and it's over. It was just a giant scream. And that was like you fucking launched into him. It was hilarious though. They're like right away on Twitter. He's like, well, that sucked. And then I counted his ass out, you know. Boom. I mean, he leaned into it too. I mean, he was dying to sniff the crotch. He's dying, bro. He's like, he should have been invited to the Sam Bankman freed party. Horrible knockout. One of the worst ever and one of the greatest ever. It's just the way you set it up though. And then watching video footage of you practicing that over and over and over again and knowing that that was a plan. So when I'm doing it the night before, I'm like 95% certain because of the way he's been acting all week. Like all I got to do at any given moment is just get the sky uncomfortable. Go from like chill to invaded space, whether it was in the opening bout or like in the second round or midway through the third. I just knew I had the invaded space and he's going to go to his natural instincts. I know I keep saying it, but I just knew it. Like the way he'd freeze up every time we talked, the way he'd walk, the way he'd get stiff. I just knew like. I mean, you literally practice the exact same thing over and over and over again. It's so wild to see.