Ben “Funky” Askren, 34, will make his UFC debut on January 26, 2019. He will face former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler, 36, at “UFC 233,” which will be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, United States.
Askren is an undefeated fight and a former ONE Welterweight World Champion. He captured the title on August 29, 2014 by dethroning Nobutatsu Suzuki at “ONE” Reign of Champions.”
As the ONE Welterweight World Champion, Askren successfully defended his title thrice, excluding his bout against Luis Santos at “ONE: Valor of Champions” on April 24, 2015, which ended in a No Contest. The three opponents who failed to dethrone Askren were Agilan “Alligator” Thani, 23, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam, 28, of Sweden and Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki, 35, of Shizuoka, Japan.
On October 24, 2018, Askren vacated the ONE Welterweight World Championship title. He left ONE Championship and joined the UFC as he and Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez swapped promotions in the first ever trade between the two mixed martial arts giants.
Askren currently holds a professional MMA record of 10 wins and 0 loss. On the other hand, Lawler has 28 wins and 12 losses.
Lawler captured the UFC Welterweight Championship on December 6, 2014. He successfully defended the title twice.
Tyron Woodley dethroned Lawler on June 30, 2016. The former is still the reigning UFC Welterweight Champion.
Meanwhile, here is Chael Sonnen talking about the upcoming bout between Askren and Lawler:
CONAN Daily 