Ben Askren News

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the UFC and Singapore’s ONE Championship are closing in on a history-making fighter trade. This potential trade would see ONE Championship send its former welterweight champion Ben Askren to the UFC, and the UFC send its former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to the Singapore-based promotion. It did not take long for the MMA community to begin imagining matchups for both fighters in their new potential homes. Ben Askren himself, however, feels like the UFC welterweight division has gone silent since the news of his possible arrival surfaced.

Drake Riggs - October 24, 2018

Nothing has been announced officially yet by the UFC…but if Ben Askren himself is any indication, it very well might be. Earlier today a report that a historic and groundbreaking potential “trade” was in the works between the UFC and ONE Championship. The “trade” between the organizations is an exchange between former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and the former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion Askren.

Cole Shelton - October 24, 2018

UFC fans have been wanting Ben Askren to join the UFC for quite some time now. Well, it appears they are finally getting their wish. It is being reported by Ariel Helwani of ESPN that the UFC and ONE Championship are close to a deal that would send Askren to the UFC and Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship. This kind of MMA trade is unheard of, and once it becomes official, Askren will have plenty of options for who he can fight in the UFC.

Tom Taylor - October 24, 2018

ONE Championship and the UFC are close to finalizing a history-making fighter trade, per ESPN. This potential trade would see the UFC send former flyweight champion and pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson to the Singapore-based promotion in exchange for former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren. While this trade is reportedly on the table, it is not official yet.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2018

Nate Diaz wants the UFC to upgrade his upcoming UFC 230 lightweight contender fight with Dustin Poirier to a championship fight in new, currently hypothetical 165-pound division. Unfortunately for him, the UFC doesn’t seem into this idea. His response? “Don’t be scared.”

Tom Taylor - September 11, 2018

Former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight kingpin Ben Askren isn’t impressed by Colby Covington. In fact, he considers Covington a value brand version of himself. The ostensibly retired former champion shared his thoughts on Covington when responding to a fan on Twitter recently. Apparently, he’s not impressed by Covington’s ability, his record, or his patented trash talk.

Drake Riggs - August 7, 2018

There have been multiple amazing fighters in MMA that have never fought for the UFC. Atop the list of them for many is Ben Askren. There was once a time where the undefeated former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king looked to have a solid shot at making his way to the grandest stage in MMA. However, after some back and forth with the boss Dana White himself, things never really came together and Askren took his talent over to Asia.

Jordy McElroy - July 18, 2018

Brendan Schaub drew a line in the sand with UFC President Dana White last Thursday in what might have been the most visceral social media clap-back of the year. A minor disagreement quickly escalated into all-out war between the UFC boss and former UFC heavyweight. It wasn’t the first time a former or current employee has raked White through the coals publically, and if history has taught us anything, it won’t be the last, either.

Tom Taylor - April 30, 2018

Over the last few weeks, undefeated former Bellator and ONE welterweight titleholder Ben Askren has expressed interest in ending his retirement for a fight with Rory MacDonald in Bellator, or Georges St-Pierre in the UFC. Chatri Sityodtong, the Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship (where Askren is still technically under contract) seemed willing to work with Bellator to allow Askren to fight Rory MacDonald.

Chris Taylor - April 29, 2018

Dillon Danis calls out Ben Askren following successful Bellator MMA debut, “Funky” responds accordingly Dillon Danis picked up his first career mixed martial arts victory at last night’s Bellator 198 event in Chicago.

Drake Riggs - April 18, 2018

Despite what many may be led to believe, there is a flawlessly dominant wrestler outside of the UFC that may be a lot more well known than people assume. That wrestler turned undefeated multi-time MMA champion is none other than ‘Funky’ Ben Askren. Askren went 18-0 in his professional career before semi-retiring this past November. Funky Ben was most well known for being the dominant champion of both Bellator and ONE Championship.

Justin Golightly - March 13, 2018

While everyone but Georges St-Pierre contemplates his next opponent, Ben Askren has been campaigning for this fight mostly because people won’t stop asking him about it. The UFC on FOX account seems to mention him bi-weekly now and Askren is shrugging and RTing every time it happens. On the latest editions of The MMA Hour, he not only thinks the fight goes down in 2019, but runs play-by-play on exactly how he defeats the two-division UFC champion. “Here’s what I think happens, because the one thing I have over [Georges St-Pierre] is I have the wrestling advantage and I don’t get tired, and that’s usually what he’s relied on in the last, say, 10 to 12 fights or so. I think he’s very tough to take down early. I think he’s very tough. I think he’s probably going to win the striking battle, but one of the things, I never take a lot of damage. I just don’t get hit a lot. That’s what I’m good at.”

Drake Riggs - March 5, 2018

“Ben Askren, I don’t understand why he’s not in the UFC. He’s one of the best in the world and I think it has to do with maybe a problem he has with Dana White, you know but he’s one of the best fighters in the world. If there is a guy that in my career, for my legacy that would have been good to fight, it’d be Ben Askren because he beat everybody. All the guys at Bellator, he beat all the champions outside the UFC but unfortunately, I think he has a fallout with Dana and he never had a chance to fight in the UFC and therefore is stuck. Never went to the value that he’s supposed to be at.

Justin Golightly - February 22, 2018

Ben Askren has made it no secret his retirement has one, big Canadian asterisk. He’s only coming back to fight Georges St-Pierre to finally prove to all the naysayers that, despite the fact that he never fought in the UFC, that he’s the very best welterweight in the entire world. But what if that fight can’t happen? What about a money fight with the likes of Nate Diaz or even Conor McGregor? Don’t get your hopes up. Askren essentially shrugs at the names and says he’s going to stay on course in campaigning for a fight with GSP. “Nate Diaz sucks. I mean, yeah. [Conor] McGregor is barely the best in the world. I mean, the guy beat up Nate Diaz barely a couple of times and Nate Diaz himself is a very mediocre UFC fighter. There is no way you can argue that sentiment because all you have to do is look at [Diaz’s] record. The record shows he’s a very middle-of-the-road UFC fighter, he’s a 500 guy. He wins half, he loses half. Sure, he’s had some good wins, but he’s also had some terrible losses.”

Justin Golightly - February 20, 2018

Frankie Edgar has finally got a fight after his anticipated scrap with UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway has fallen through twice. At UFC 222 in just under two weeks, he’ll test his infamous pressure, boxing and grinding wrestling on slick Brian Ortega. From one wrestler to another, Edgar recently spoke up about Ben Askren since the UFC on FOX Twitter account had curiously mentioned the former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion. He him a lot of respect and thinks he could have a shot against St-Pierre. “I would love to see [Ben] Askren in the UFC. I think it’s a shame that he hasn’t been here. I think people, or at least Dana [White] and whoever the UFC brass don’t want to see him go out there and wrestle guys to death and whatnot, but he’s out there wrestling and finishing guys now. The dude doesn’t get hit and it’s pretty impressive. Yeah, that’s like the, ‘Who would win out of [Georges St-Pierre] or him?’ That’s something people have been talking about for a long time and he’s got the ability to make that fight very interesting just because of his wrestling ability. Typically Georges is the guy with the wrestling ability, but against Ben I think Ben might have a hand in there.”—Frankie Edgar speaking on the MMA Roasted podcast.

Justin Golightly - February 17, 2018

The year of the superfight is truly upon us. Whether they all go down or not, three giant fights between champions in different divisions are expected to fight each other. Whether this is the UFC’s big explosion like the death of a star, or their metamorphosis to survive in the future, it’s clear that things are changing. So, if we’re going to crack open the door to allow for epic fights like these, why not just kick it off the hinges? Let’s take down the political boundaries between organizations and have champions be able to fight other champions to really decide who are the top fighters on our humble spinning rock. Unfortunately, that’s impossible until some sort of MMA Ali Act is passed. However, there is no red tape on our imagination, so this is what we’ll explore in the very first edition of Fight Think. 5.  Bellator World Grand Prix winner vs. Stipe Miocic/Daniel Cormier winner (Bellator heavyweight champion vs UFC heavyweight champion)

Drake Riggs - February 12, 2018

As it stands right now, labeling the career of undefeated Bellator and ONE  welterweight champion, Ben Askren a “mystery” wouldn’t feel very outrageous. How so? Everyone who has ever seen Askren fight can see how very clearly talented he was and is. The mystery just remains, “exactly how good was he?” Askren capped off his eighteen fight career in November fighting for ONE Championships and never stepping foot into a UFC octagon. Despite making it clear he’s retired, Askren has still left the door open to a possibility. Proving he truly was the best regardless of whether he fought for the UFC or not. To do so, Askren believes he must face one of the greatest of all time across all weight classes, Georges St-Pierre. Askren made a bold prediction when speaking with MMAJunkie today:

Justin Golightly - January 24, 2018

Once again, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov are booked in the single best lightweight fight that is available in MMA at this point. At UFC 223, whether it be for the interim or the undisputed title, this clash is going to be insane. It’s crushing, combat Sambo up against unorthodox striking and 10th Planet jiu jitsu. It’s a match-up that fascinated a lot of people, including Joe Rogan and Ben Askren. Former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champion Askren recently weighed-in on the epic fight and one of MMA’s best wrestlers ended up backing the Russian smashing machine. “[Khabib Nurmagoemdov] was a like a frickin’ Terminator though [in the fight at UFC 219]. He was chasing [Edson Barboza]. It was insane. He’s fantastic. […] I think he beats up Tony [Ferguson]. That’s just my opinion. I’ve underestimated Tony before so I could be wrong again, I just think — again, trump card. I think Tony’s one of those guys who is pretty good everywhere: Pretty damn solid wrestling, high level jiu jitsu, but I see Khabib’s wrestling being better than Tony’s wrestling.”