Askren vs. Thomas II: This One Will Be Undisputed

Tonight at Bellator XIX, a much-anticipated rematch takes place between Ben Askren and former UFC fighter Ryan Thomas. For those who are wondering, the two had a fight earlier this season at Bellator XIV which ended about as controversial as did Machida-Shogun I or Penn vs. Edgar.

The difference between this welterweight fight and those two aforementioned fights is that the fight didn't have to reach the judges' decision for it to be a controversial fight.

There was no low blow, there was no unnecessary prolonging of a submission hold, no unnecessary strikes were thrown, and no judge had given a questionable score, à la Penn vs. Edgar, where one judge scored the bout as Frankie winning all five rounds, nor did they see one fighter win despite taking crucial damage à la Machida-Shogun I.

The controversy came in the form of a Ben Askren anaconda choke at two minutes and forty seconds in the near-end of round one.

Let's keep in mind, now, that Askren only had three fights prior to facing the much more experienced Thomas, who stood at ten wins and three losses coming into that fight.

When Askren had the choke in, Thomas didn't react. He didn't tap, but if you watch the fight again, you can't really see the head of Thomas, so so only the lack of evidential movement might have been the indicator that Thomas had passed out from the choke.

Doesn't sound too controversial, does it?

How about when Askren released the choke, and then you saw Thomas sitting up, protesting the stoppage?

That's where "controversial" becomes a fitting term to use here, boys and girls.

The referee looked on as Askren applied the choke, but didn't check the arm, he didn't see Thomas lose consciousness and fall like Josh Neer did against Eddie Alvarez, and he didn't get any verbal confirmation of submission from Ryan Thomas.

It had to be the lack of movement that gave the ref the premature impression that Thomas had passed out. There would be no other way that a referee would think that a fighter passed out—without asking the fighter, seeing them fall unconsciously, or checking the arm—unless the referee saw a lack of movement from the fighter in the submission hold.

Needless to say, no hatred spawned between the two men. Ben Askren did what he had to do to win the fight, and Ryan Thomas knew Ben would from the moment the fight was made official.

As far as the referees, what we see is different than what they see in the fight, so it makes sense that half of the people who saw the fight would find no fault with the ref, while the other half would find that the ref called for the stoppage prematurely.

At first, I was the former, but after seeing the fight once more, I'm on the fence about the situation.

It seemed as though Thomas may have passed out, but Thomas didn't really seem like he was going out or about to tap. Before the stoppage, it looked as though Thomas might have tried to break out of the submission.

At least, that's the first fight from my eyes.

Jim Wallhead was supposed to fight in the welterweight tournament bout that followed a week later against Jacob McClintock. My understanding is that Wallhead had to be pulled from the tournament due to being stranded in England—no doubt due to the volcanic eruptions that had occurred in Europe.

Had the eruptions not occurred, Ryan Thomas would not have replaced Wallhead, faced McClintock and beaten him by TKO in round one.

Thus, the card we (hopefully) all will see at Bellator XIX tonight would not hold the welterweight rematch that I definitely feel will end all the disputes that plagued the first fight.

This time, it might be a little bit more intense for both fighters. As with fights of the past, there has been no interest sparked in the casual or "wannabe" fan of MMA without some trash talk here and there.

What the trash talk tells me is that both men will come in looking to finish the other in as quick of a time as possible. I can't say that the rematch will end in round one, but it very well could end in round one if both men come out with both guns loaded and impatiently waiting to blaze.

Regardless of how this fight turns out tonight, the result will have no controversy surrounding it. Very rarely does a fight turn out so good that it should be a draw, and this fight will be no exception.

There will be an undisputed winner tonight. No questions asked.

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