Ben Askren and UFC President Dana White never had the best of relations. Both have seemed to despise each other at various occasions in the past. Things have changed now that Askren’s in the UFC welterweight top-15. Askren’s change in fortune provoked some rare praise from the UFC boss,
“Askren has been fun, this guy’s smart, he’s funny, he likes to mix it up with everybody in a fun way, too. So it’s been good. I’m glad he’s here. Timing is everything in life and this was the perfect time for Ben Askren to be in the UFC.”
Ben Askren debuted in UFC 235 with a controversial first-round submission win over Robbie Lawler. Askren may appreciate the kind words from his boss, but it’s unlikely he’ll be happy with White’s new plan for him. Dana White has said that he is working on an Askren-Lawler rematch because of the controversial results.
White said,
“I’m trying to make the [Robbie] Lawler rematch, first of all, that fight was awesome, it was fun, it was controversial but it’s the fight to make right now. It’s terrible when that (controversy) happens. That’s the fight we want to make.”
Though Ben Askren may accept a rematch with Robbie Lawler, it’s clear the match-up is far from his first choice.
At the UFC 235 post-fight press conference, following his win over Lawler, Askren had said,
“I pass, I guess we’ll have that discussion. I would like to fight the winner of [Darren] Till vs. [Jorge] Masvidal, I think that makes a whole lot of sense where the division is concerned. I didn’t really want to fight Robbie in the first place. The first matchup they offered I said yes. I did that.”
