Askren explains beef with Hendricks
Ben Askren: “…And it’s like c’mon, is that really how you’re going to lose the Big 12 finals? He was just doing sneaky s– like that all the time.”
Ben Askren might the most talked about fighter not in the UFC. Askren has very stated more than once he feels as though he can beat every welterweight in the UFC, including Johnny Hendricks who he has a history with:
“It’s hard to describe in full effect unless you’ve been around the wrestling community a long time,” Askren said. “He has won so many matches lucky through college. … He was wrestling my teammate Tyron Woodley in the Big 12 finals, 2005-06, somewhere around there, and [the score] was 1-1 in the third. Tyron’s in on a shot, and Johny kept sticking his fingers into Tyron’s mouth. So finally Tyron bites him, which he shouldn’t have done, but when someone’s sticking fingers in your mouth, it’s like, c’mon, so he gave up a point because he bit him, land he lost match 2-1. And it’s like c’mon, is that really how you’re going to lose the Big 12 finals? He was just doing sneaky s– like that all the time.”
Askren likewise claimed Hendricks ducked him at an All-Star collegiate wrestling meet. According to Askren, he was willing to go down in weight class to meet Hendricks on the mat.
“The people at the All-Star Classic said you can’t do that because you’re not the same weight class,” Askren said. “I said I don’t care, I’ll make the sacrifice, I’ll go down in weight. I want to beat this dude bad. They never did make it happen. A couple years down the road I heard it was because he turned the match down personally. I can’t confirm or deny that face.”
