Today In "New UFC Signee Ben Askren Being An Absolute Savage Towards Every MMA Fighter On The Planet"
Alright, so as long as Ben Askren doesn’t stop running his mouth (and he hasn’t shown ANY signs of slowing down at all), this is just going to become a daily feature for me. And I’m cool with that, because Ben Askren may be the most enthralling human being on the planet right now whether ya love him or hate him.
Yesterday, he did his first round of interviews as a member of the UFC’s roster, and opened his spot on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show by just running through the list of fighters and boom-roasting every single one, sometimes even literally, before Ariel could even get a question off!
“KHABIB – I’m the best grappler on planet earth, Khabib. Bring the heat. GEORGES [St-Pierre] – come outta retirement, just tell me what I gotta do, whether it’s an amount of followers or beat someone up, you just tell me what I gotta go, Georges, because you’re not sayin’ nothing. DIAZES – put down the pipe, pass a USADA test, and get in the cage. MASVIDAL – you’re a bum! Boom roasted! THOMPSON – I ain’t got nothin’ bad to say about Steve Thompson but I know I’ll beat him up. Who’d I forget…oh Till!”
“DARREN TILL – he’s the worst. You know why I was following him? I was following him because I don’t like people with undefeated records. I got an undefeated record, I’ve been undefeated for nine years…Darren Till stinks. I’ll beat him up so easy, and ya know – he likes to talk like he’s tough on Twitter…hey Darren, if you’re really tough, call the UFC and tell them you want me IN LONDON. I’ll come to London, I’ll beat you up in front of all of your home fans.”
I mean…holy shit. Again – that was unprompted. It literally feels like an inmate just escaped his cell and trapped all the guards in a prison or something, the lunatic is running the show! He’s disrespecting Till as much as anyone’s every disrespected anyone. Just flat out said you stink and if you’re as tough as he says you are, call me out for a fight IN YOUR HOMETOWN. He’s literally offering up home field advantage!
This all extended to Twitter late last night into this morning/afternoon, where he set up some future plans for himself, questioned whether or not the UFC were treating him like a crazy new girlfriend, and even went after my fellow Team McGregor brother Dillon Danis.
I do not condone what Askren said to Dillon and personally feel that my guy Conor took a tough ricochet shot in the mix there.
Still, Askren’s newfound position amongst UFC Welterweights has been entertaining as hell to watch unfold, so here’s to more of it – for better or for worse.