Askren dream fight with ‘dummy’ Hendricks
“If you got to say one fight, you could pick any fight, regardless of organization, you have one fight … because he’s a dummy. And I don’t like him.”
There was a time in MMA when no one knew for sure who the top fighters were, as they were spread between Pride and the UFC. Eventually the top fighters ended up in the UFC, and fans now get to see the best fighting the best.
But there are exceptions, none bigger than ONE Championship welterweight champion Ben Askren. ‘Funky’ was asked who he most wanted to fight in the world. He has a wishlist of one – Johny Hendricks.
The pair are both two-time NCAA Div I champions, Askren at Missouri and Hendricks at Oklahoma State. Hendricks competed in college at 157 then 165. Hendricks didn’t like him then, and doesn’t like him now, all the more since his weight cutting debacle.
“If you got to say one fight, you could pick any fight, regardless of organization or anything else, you have one fight — that’s my fight,” said Askren to Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting.
“Man, because he’s a dummy. And I don’t like him.”
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to show up 26 pounds over? You’ve got to be an idiot to do something like that. Sure, it might have worked once or twice before, but it’s definitely not the best way to do things.”
“Either he’s getting lazy or he just thinks he can do certain things that he can’t do or he’s just getting older. I don’t know what it is, but being 26 pounds over is ridiculous.”
Ben Askren defends his title vs. Luis Santos in a rematch at ONE Championship: Pride of Lions on Nov. 13 in Singapore. The ATT trained Santos has had an extraordinary 72 fights, and is on a seven-fight win streak. The duo’s first fight was stopped due to an accidental eye poke.
