B. Askren poses with the Bellator and One FC belts. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook
Considered one of the best athletes outside the UFC, North American Ben Askren is at odds with the biggest MMA organization on the planet, especially with president Dana White. Despite this, the former Bellator champion and current holder of the One FC welterweight belt is not completely ruling out his future in the Octagon. In an interview with SUPER FIGHTS, in celebration of the site's seven-year anniversary, Askren celebrated what he considers “the end of the monopoly” of Ultimate in the sport, but preferred not to say that he will never step foot in the octagon.
“The UFC’s monopoly has come to an end and they have more battles to fight on their hands than they ever anticipated,” assured Askren, citing last weekend’s Bellator 131 audience – which peaked at 2 million viewers during the fight between Tito Ortiz e Stephan bonnar and became the best MMA brand on TV in 2014. “But despite that, I have no idea if I will ever sign with the UFC. MMA is a crazy world”, he added.
A member of the United States Olympic wrestling team that competed in the 2008 Games in Beijing and an excellent user of mixed martial arts, Ben also commented on the good results of athletes from the wrestling – who currently hold six of the nine UFC belts – and guaranteed that their dominance will not be temporary. “I think at the moment we are experiencing wrestling supremacy and that will continue for a while. More and more serious wrestling guys are transitioning to MMA and doing great work in the cage. Wrestling’s dominance won’t end for a long time,” he assured.
“What has changed since the launch of SUPER LUTAS, seven years ago?”
Like the other athletes interviewed by SUPER FIGHTS On this anniversary, Ben Askren was also asked about the transformations in the sport since November 2007, when the site went live, and his own changes in this period. Briefly, the American said that the gain in popularity was MMA's greatest achievement since then.
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“MMA is becoming something more prominent, today it is in the mainstream, and being better accepted by society. In my case, my MMA career has not yet completed seven years, so I would say that a lot has changed for me”, said the welterweight, who, at 30 years old, has a perfect professional record in 14 fights.
Askren's big surprise, however, was for future plans. Asked about how he sees himself in seven years and what he foresees for MMA in that period, “Funky”, as he is known, foreshadowed an increase in the development of the sport, but revealed that he is already thinking about shade and fresh water for himself. “Mixed martial arts, as a sport, will be on its way to increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. Now, in seven years, I will be retired from MMA,” he concluded.
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