Ben Askren sticks up for Daniel Cormier amid war of words with UFC 307 fighter Joaquin Buckley

Former Bellator and ONE champion, Ben Askren, is sticking up for Daniel Cormier amid recent comments made by UFC 307 fighter Joaquin Buckley.

Cormier and Buckley had been at odds ever since “New Mansa” was criticized by the UFC Hall of Famer for calling out Conor McGregor. Buckley said that the mothers of Cormier, Michael Bisping, and Chael Sonnen “raised some h*es.” Cormier didn’t take too kindly to this, hurling expletives right back at Buckley.

Recently, the UFC welterweight said he hopes to run into Cormier one day despite insisting there is no beef between the two.

RELATED: DANIEL CORMIER RESPONDS TO JOAQUIN BUCKLEY’S LATEST TAUNTS: “MY JOB IS TO TELL THE TRUTH!”

Ben Askren Gives Joaquin Buckley Constructive Criticism

During an episode of “Funky and the Champ,” Ben Askren expressed his belief that Joaquin Buckley took Daniel Cormier’s criticism of the callout too personally. He agrees with “DC” on the Conor McGregor callout being a poor decision, and feels Buckley would be better served learning from the experience rather than lashing out (h/t MMAFighting).

“So Joaquin, if you listen to this, don’t be mad at me too just because I’m friends with Daniel, but I agree with Daniel,” Askren said. “And I like Joaquin Buckley. I think he’s a good dude, trains with Nick Simmons. I agree with [Cormier]. No, I agreed, I agreed with you totally. And this is where, again, don’t take yourself too seriously — you’re not going to hit 100 percent of the time, right? Daniel Cormier, maybe he’ll have a good drive once in a while, but he shanks some of them into the woods when he golfs.

“That’s what Joaquin Buckley did in that post-fight, he shanked it into the woods. Calling out McGregor? It was just ridiculous. Maybe if you’re going to do something like that, make one line about him. But don’t make the whole thing about him, right? Say one line just to get his name in there, and then go off on somebody else — it would’ve been much better.”

Buckley’s focus should be on his next opponent, who will be Stephen Thompson. The two are set to collide on the UFC 307 card on October 5th. That event is being headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fight between titleholder Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree.