Askren: I don’t think I’ll be showing up at the UFC
“Yeah they may regret it, but I still don’t think I’ll be showing up there. And the Joe Silva picture, it was just like….that was the only seat left on bus when I got on.”
There are only two interviewers in the MMA space that you should never miss, Stephie Daniels and Submission Radio. Here Submission Radio talks with the greatest fighter not in the UFC, ONE FC weltereight champion Ben Askren.
On Ben’s thoughts on what would happen if Duke Roufus stopped Anthony Pettis’ fight and threw in the towel, and what Anthony’s response would have been.
I think that would be unacceptable, and you know as someone who – I’m a coach and a fighter. Let me fight, right? And a lot of people wanna make it out to be more than it is, but it’s not a nice sport, that the whole point of a mixed martial arts fight is to injure the other person to the point in which they won’t continue. So you know every time you step into the cage there’s a good chance you’re gonna get hurt, and that’s part of the risk you assume as a fighter. So if I’m in there fighting, I don’t care. Let me fight. And I’m gonna keep fighting until I can’t fight any more; and you know Anthony was never hurt too bad. There was a lot of ground fighting. Obviously the eye was an issue, but Anthony kept fighting the whole time, and I don’t think he wanted to quit. And I know as a fighter, if I was in there I definitely would not have wanted to quit.
With the UFC referencing Ben during the UFC 185 broadcast and the picture of him and Joe Silva on Twitter it seeming like the UFC regret not signing Ben, and If Ben thinks it’s likely we’ll see him in the UFC in 2015.
Yeah they may regret it, but I still don’t think I’ll be showing up there. And the Joe Silva picture, it was just like….that was the only seat left on bus when I got on. So I sat down and you know, obviously it was kind of awkward so I made the best of a ‘not so great’ situation and kind of had a laugh of it.
As soon as I sat down I said ‘if you’re going to make a proposition to me, the answer is no’. I kind of broke the ice right away, right off the bat.
You know there was a lot of banter between everyone. I was talking to Roy Nelson and his wife, they were sitting next to us, Duke and Joe were talking. So you know there was a lot of people sitting there. So it wasn’t like he was the only person I had to talk to……fortunately.
On CM Punk’s progress thus far as a fighter.
You know what, he’s very disciplined, he’s very dedicated, and he works really hard. So it’s a pleasure having him in the gym, and obviously he’s got a long way to go because he started out of nowhere, right? Being a professional wrestler he didn’t really have a background coming into mixed martial arts. So he is getting a lot better, but he’s still got a ways to go.
Ben tweets when CM Punk was signed to the UFC, and If Ben’s thoughts have changed about Punk now that Punk trains with him?
Well those were my honest thoughts about it, and I think those thoughts don’t really change; and that’s not really a criticism of CM Punk, that was a criticism of the UFC and what they’re doing. That being said, CM Punk he had a great opportunity to do something that he wanted to do and it worked out really well for him, and now he gets to compete at something he wants to do. So for him it’s all good, but you know my jokes stand and I stand behind those statements still.
Askren defends his ONE FC welterweight champion against Luis Santos on April 24 in Manila, Philippines.
He’s definitely a tough opponent. There’s no doubt about that. As far as toughest – I think it’s always harder to say because a lot of times styles make match ups, that kind of thing. I would still go back to Douglas Lima. I think he’s an outstanding fighter
Obviously Santos is a tough test, but I think I’m going to get in there and handle business.
He’s got the wild punches and kicks, so I expect him to be really wild early in the fight and throw something and just hope that it lands. So that’s really his only chance.
The chance of him winning a, you know a five round tough fight against me, it’s just zero. I mean there’s no chance he’s going to do that, but obviously with MMA with the craziness that it is, there’s always a chance you could get the knockout. So that’s what I’m expecting out of him and I’m prepared for that.
I’m going to do what I do to everyone else, stare at him, I’m going to walk across the cage, then I’ll grab him and throw him on the ground, then I’ll punch him a bunch of times.
What Ben thinks about the shallow division in ONE Championship.
“ONE Championship is a new a new organization. They’re doing the best to sign tough talent, but yeah, I am beating everyone. But I did the same thing in Bellator, and in my opinion I would do the same thing anywhere. So I am head and shoulders above everyone, but I have the opinion that I am head and shoulders above everyone, I just haven’t had the chance to prove it yet.”
