Ben Askren Says 5-Second Knee KO Won't Happen Again, 'Maia Can't Jump That High'

Ben Askren says there's a ZERO percent chance his next UFC fight ends after 5 seconds with a knee to the head. And, why's he so confident?

"I don’t think [Demian Maia] can jump that high!"

Ben's actually got a pretty great attitude going into Saturday's bout with Maia considering his last outing ... well it didn't go so well.

Askren was KO'd with a flying knee from Jorge Masvidal -- setting the record for fastest KO in UFC history.

"I think the best way to deal with adversity is obviously to hop right back in there so that’s what I did," Askren said.

"The UFC gave me the call pretty quickly after the Jorge Masvidal fight, and said ‘Hey would you want a main event in Singapore?’ And, I said 'Yeah, let’s go.' And, I thought that was a good time for me to hop back into the cage, so I’m excited."

Maia is currently the #10 ranked welterweight. Askren is #11 ... and Ben knows if he wins this fight, a title shot could be right around the corner.

"Obviously, I have to get the win on Saturday, and then once I do that, I can go to work calling people out and see where that can take me, but I don’t feel like I’m too far away from the top."

One of those guys at the top is Masvidal (ranked #3) ... and Ben says he's open for a rematch if the UFC is down.

"Yeah obviously that would be nice, and I think it would be an easy fight for me to get because the story’s so easy to tell."