Ben Askren made his highly anticipated octagon debut at last weekend’s UFC 235 event in Las Vegas against Robbie Lawler.

In the early moments of the fight, Lawler slammed Askren to the canvas and began raining down brutal ground and pound. Somehow, Askren survived and got back up to his feet where he eventually got ahold of Lawler’s back. There, he latched on to a bulldog choke which caused Herb Dean to jump in and stop the fight.  It was a controversial stoppage which many fight fans and analysts believe was a bad stoppage.

Since the conclusion of their fight at UFC 235, Askren has stated that regardless if Lawler was out cold or not, he wasn’t escaping the submission hold.

Well, Lawler’s manager David Martin disagrees with that and hopes an immediate rematch can get booked.

“We acknowledge that Ben is a tremendous fighter; coming back from the beating Robbie gave him demonstrates his grit and shows why he has a strong history of winning,” Martin said in the statement (transcript via MMANews). “That is undeniable. However, Ben’s comments speak directly to the fact that there was a lot of time left in the round leading to a lot of unknowns. Things could have dramatically changed in the 1:40 remaining in the round, just as they did a minute into the fight.

“It is unfortunate that Robbie didn’t get his chance to get out of a tough position like Ben was able to do earlier in the round. No one knows, which is why an immediate rematch is warranted. As for an appeal to the commission, nothing has been ruled out. But if this were to occur it would be handled professionally behind closed doors like we do all of our business. Through adversity, Robbie remains a true professional and role model for the sport — someone I certainly want my three boys to look up to.”

It is a loss on Lawler’s record, but the hope is the two can run it back soon after the controversial stoppage.

Do you think Ben Askren and Robbie Lawler should have an immediate rematch?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/7/2019.