Bleacher Report\u00a0MMA<\/a>\u00a0about a future that\u2019s uncertain. It was widely suspected thatAskren\u00a0would immediately head towards the UFC with his run in\u00a0Bellator\u00a0done, but that doesn\u2019t appear to be the case.<\/p>\nUFC president\u00a0Dana White\u00a0let it be known that the company has\u00a0no interest in signing\u00a0Askren, implying he could go elsewhere and improve his overall game. By many fans, it seems like White is simply trying to control who has the bargaining chips at the negotiation table and\u00a0Askren\u00a0agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be shocked if I didn\u2019t get an offer from the UFC,\u201d\u00a0Askren\u00a0said. \u201cI\u2019m the sixth ranked fighter in the division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Askren\u00a0achieved that kind of recognition by amassing a 12-0 record while competing mainly in\u00a0Bellator. He\u2019s one of the best wrestlers to enter the sport in recent memory and outside of the fight with Jay\u00a0Hieron,\u00a0has rag-dolled the 170-pound division inBellator.<\/p>\n
It would make sense for\u00a0Askren\u00a0to be signed for the promotion, as it\u2019s hard to be the premier promotion in the world and not sign a top 10 talent if they\u2019re available.\u00a0Askrenhas even offered to help Joe Silva by picking his opponent for his UFC debut, Rory MacDonald.<\/p>\n
Askren\u00a0came on\u00a0The MMA Hour\u00a0to call out the\u00a0Tri-Star product as someone who irked him, even offering to fight for free and retire if he lost. It\u2019s quite the confident statement for a fighter who\u2019s never faced a top 10 opponent and calling out a fighter who was widely regarded as the future of the 170-pound division.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, there\u2019s people in life that you can\u2019t put your finger on it, but you just know they bother you. That\u2019s him,\u201d\u00a0Askren\u00a0said of\u00a0MacDaonald.<\/p>\n
But why MacDonald? Other than the fact\u00a0Askren\u00a0doesn\u2019t like him, he believes it\u2019s a great matchup for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my jiu-jitsu and wrestling are better. When it got tough (at UFC 167) he backed down. You might land a good punch here and there but to beat me, you\u2019re going to have to be tough. I think he was severely over-hyped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over-hyped is a sentiment about\u00a0Askren\u00a0that\u2019s shared by a number of MMA fans. It\u2019s easy to discredit\u00a0Askren\u2019s credentials based on the level of competition he\u2019s faced and how easily he\u2019s dispatched of his opponents. Although fans may not be universally backing a \u201c#SignAskren\u201d movement, the former\u00a0Bellator\u00a0champion has his eyes focused on the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I do or say things sometimes to get a reaction out of fans,\u201d\u00a0Askren\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about the fans wanting to see you. Whether they want to see you win or lose, as long as they tune in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UFC could certainly use the interest\u00a0Askren\u00a0would undoubtedly create. With their biggest pay-per-view draw, Georges St-Pierre, uncertain if he wants to come back, the UFC is in need of guys who can sell a card. And like\u00a0Askren\u00a0pointed out, plenty of fans will tune in to watch him win or lose.<\/p>\n
But the UFC seems content on not rushing to sign\u00a0Askren,\u00a0even though the World Series of Fighting has already put an offer on the table. But it\u2019s clear from hearingAskren\u00a0speak that competing in the\u00a0WSOF\u00a0is at the top of his wish list.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d have to think long and hard about joining the World Series of fighting. I honestly think there\u2019s more competition in\u00a0Bellator\u00a0at 170 pounds. I mean their champion (Steve Carl) couldn\u2019t even get past the semifinal round ofBellator\u2019s tournaments. I can make money a lot of ways besides being locked in a cage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Since being let go by\u00a0Bellator,\u00a0Askren\u00a0has manged to keep himself busy outside a MMA cage. He has two wrestling schools in the Milwaukee area and is, of course, training and coaching his teammates at\u00a0Roufusport. He also competed at\u00a0Agon\u00a0Wrestling Championship against Penn State\u2019s Quentin Wright and dominated their match by the score of 22-8.<\/p>\n
Askren\u00a0explained that he likes the vision of\u00a0AWC\u00a0and said there\u2019s six, possibly seven events on the horizon. It\u2019s an attempt to not only raise awareness about wrestling due to the Olympics fiasco, but also a chance to see many of the best collegiate wrestlers competing against one another such as when Bubba Jenkins faces Kyle\u00a0Dake\u00a0in Madison Square Garden later this year.<\/p>\n
However, virtually everyone in the MMA world is waiting for\u00a0Askren\u00a0and the UFC to put pen to paper. The jump in competition from\u00a0Bellator\u00a0to the UFC is sure to be vastly different, but it\u2019s not something\u00a0Askren\u00a0is concerned about.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to keep doing what I do best,\u201d\u00a0Askren\u00a0said. \u201cI\u2019m working on my weaknesses at\u00a0Roufusport\u00a0and I train with Anthony\u00a0Pettis, who I could argue is the best striker in all of MMA. And we train kickboxing, boxing, not just MMA.\u201d<\/p>\n
True,\u00a0Askren\u00a0does train with a very talented camp and one of the best coaches in all of MMA. He\u2019s accomplished a lot not only in MMA, but in amateur wrestling as well. All that\u2019s missing is a chance at UFC gold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He\u2019s never stepped foot in an Octagon to compete but is one of the world\u2019s best welterweights. He also happens to be available for hire. Ben\u00a0Askren, the former\u00a0Bellator\u00a0welterweight champion, took time to speak with Bleacher Report\u00a0MMA\u00a0about a future that\u2019s uncertain. It was widely suspected thatAskren\u00a0would immediately head towards the UFC with his run in\u00a0Bellator\u00a0done, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-12210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-mma","tag-ben-askren"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/mma_g_askren_kh_576.jpg?fit=576%2C324&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-3aW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Wrestler](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/mma_g_askren_kh_576.jpg?resize=576%2C324&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n