Breaking! Ben Askren will make his octagon debut at January’s UFC 233 event against Robbie Lawler

Late last month it was announced that undefeated welterweight Ben Askren would be joining the UFC as part of a historic trade that sent pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship.

Four weeks later and we now know who the former Bellator and ONE title holder, Ben Askren, will be facing in his highly anticipated octagon debut.

“Funky” will square off with former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 233 on January 26 in Anaheim, California.

The UFC made the blockbuster announcement earlier today on Twitter.

Funky, meet Ruthless.@Ruthless_RL welcomes @BenAskren to the Octagon at #UFC233 in Anaheim! pic.twitter.com/IFFxeGHdxw

— UFC (@ufc) November 28, 2018

Following the initial news of the massive trade, Ben Askren proceeded to callout a plethora of different UFC fighters on social media. After challenging Darren Till, Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, Stephen Thompson and many others, the UFC decided to put Askren against the one man he did not callout, Robbie Lawler.

Ben Askren will enter is bout with “Ruthless” sporting a perfect professional record of 18-0.

“Funky” was last seen in action at ONE Championship 64 where he defeated MMA Legend Shinya Aoki via first-round TKO.

Meanwhile, Robbie Lawler was last seen in action in December of 2017 where he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Rafael dos Anjos.

“Ruthless” has gone 6-2 over his past eight fights overall entering January’s fight with Ben Askren.

UFC 233 could potentially be headlined by a welterweight title fight unification bout featuring Tyron Woodley taking on Colby Covington . If that doesn’t come to fruition, the card already sports a flyweight title fight featuring Henry Cejudo taking on reigning bantamweight title holder T.J. Dillashaw.

Who do you think will emerge victorious when Ben Askren and Robbie Lawler collide at UFC 233? Sound off in the comments section PENN Nation!