Ben Askren News

Christopher Taylor - November 28, 2018

Late last month it was announced that undefeated welterweight Ben Askren would be joining the UFC as part of a historic trade that sent pound-for-pound great Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship. Four weeks later and we now know who the former Bellator and ONE title holder, Ben Askren, will be facing in his highly anticipated octagon debut.

Tom Taylor - November 23, 2018

Former ONE Championship and Bellator titleholder Ben Askren is finally in the UFC. And while his debut — a UFC 233 battle with Robbie Lawler — is still some distance away, he’s already feeling the love from the fans. Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast recently, Ben Askren explained why he thinks UFC fans have come to appreciate him.

Drake Riggs - November 20, 2018

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqbFyvql3wE/ Ben Askren: “Colby [Covington]. I want to fight Colby. Nobody likes Colby. Literally nobody. Listen, not just like in the fake world in Twitter, social media, because social media and Twitter…that’s kind of like…kind of a fake universe. It’s not really reality, right? But in the real world, nobody likes Colby.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

UFC President Dana White has not been shy about his disdain for former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren in the past. Yet Chael Sonnen believes the UFC President will come to love the American wrestler, who has finally joined the UFC roster. In fact, he thinks Askren is likely to become White’s favorite fighter.

Chris Taylor - November 10, 2018

Undefeated welterweight fighter Ben Askren (18-0 MMA) was apparently in talks with Bellator’s Scott Coker just weeks before he was traded to the UFC by ONE Championship. According to the Bellator President, Coker, there were talks between his organization and ONE Championship to do some co-promotion which would have allowed Ben Askren to compete at Bellator’s welterweight grand prix.

Cole Shelton - November 9, 2018

Just a few weeks ago, the UFC and ONE Championship did something no one thought was possible. They agreed to a trade that sent Demetrious Johnson to ONE and Ben Askren to the UFC. However, before that trade happened, ONE Championship reached out to Bellator to see if they would co-promote with them in a deal that would see Askren back in his old home of Bellator. Bellator president Scott Coker was speaking on The Fight Guys podcast where he revealed the news.

Drake Riggs - November 5, 2018

It looks like we know who “Funky” Ben Askren (18-0) will likely be making his UFC debut against and it happens to be the one guy that he hasn’t called out yet. That opponent happens to be the former UFC welterweight champion, “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (28-12) as ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has confirmed with UFC president Dana White that the matchup is targeted for UFC 233 in Anaheim, California on January 26

Cole Shelton - November 5, 2018

At UFC 229, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited return to the Octagon to take on Khabib Nurmagomedov. Ultimately, McGregor lost in the fourth-round by submission. Now, however, another fighter similar to Nurmagomedov’s style in Ben Askren has joined the UFC roster. Would McGregor dare to fight Askren? According to the newest UFC acquisition, he knows the answer to that question.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

From the sounds of it, the first quarter of 2019 is going to be a busy stretch for the UFC welterweight division. According to BJPENN.COM’s Chris Taylor, the UFC is currently working on a pair of huge welterweight matchups for the New Year. The first is expected to pit former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler against two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. The second will see former ONE and Bellator welterweight kingpin Ben Askren make his Octagon debut opposite recent title challenger Darren Till. This just in! Per multiple sources close to the situation, the UFC is targeting the following two welterweight bouts for early 2019:Stephen Thompson vs Robbie Lawler and Ben Askren vs Darren Till. Neither fight has been officially signed but that is the intention.

Christopher Taylor - November 4, 2018

Former Bellator and ONE Championship title holder Ben Askren will make his UFC debut in 2019 and claims there are only two suitable opponents for his first fight with the promotion. Ben Askren joined the ESPN crew during last night’s UFC 230 broadcast where he discussed being traded to the UFC and who he will likely square off with in his first octagon appearance.

Cole Shelton - November 4, 2018

Ever since the UFC and ONE Championship agreed to the historic trade that sent Demetrious Johnson to ONE and Ben Askren to the UFC, the latter has been calling out almost everyone. Askren is expected to face a top-five welterweight in his debut according to UFC President Dana White. Who that will be or when he will debut, however, remains a mystery.

Chris Taylor - November 3, 2018

Undefeated welterweight Ben Askren (18-0 MMA) was recently dealt from ONE Championship to the UFC in return for former flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson. The historic trade, which could have a major impact on the sport of MMA going forward, sent shock waves throughout the mixed martial arts community.

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2018

The UFC is headed back to London, England’s O2 Arena on Saturday, March 16. The promotion announced this news on Thursday. “Ever since our first event in London in 2002, the city has always been a special location for the UFC. The fans here are some of the most passionate in the world and always turn up in their numbers to show their support,” UFC Senior Vice President, International and Content, David Shaw said in an official release (via MMA Mania). “The UK is home to many of our world class mixed martial artists and its fantastic to see the sport continue to go from strength to strength here. It’s going to be a great night of action.”

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2018

For a fleeting moment, Sijara Eubanks was expected to battle Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women’s flyweight title in the main event of UFC 230, which goes down in New York City this Saturday night. After a wave of fan backlash, however, the UFC backtracked on this plan, and booked a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis to headline the card. As you can probably imagine, this change didn’t go over well with Eubanks. Luckily, the UFC was able to keep her on the card, relocating her to an undercard scrap with Roxanne Modafferi.

Tom Taylor - November 1, 2018

Over the last few days, former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king Ben Askren has taken numerous shots at recent UFC welterweight title challenger Darren Till on social media, suggesting that he’d like to fight the Brit in his anticipated UFC debut. Speaking on a recent episode of his Rudis Wrestling podcast, Askren made it official, naming Daren Till as his choice opponent for his debut, and divulging that he’d even be willing to fight the Brit on his home turf.

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2018

Ever since news of his move to the UFC surfaced, Ben Askren has been picking fights on social media with many of his peers in the UFC welterweight division. That said, he is not limiting his Twitter warfare to his rivals in his new division. On Tuesday, the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight kingpin unleashed a multi-part Twitter assault on Conor McGregor training partner and Bellator MMA star Dillon Danis.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

The history-making trade is a done deal. Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has been sent to ONE Championship in exchange for former ONE welterweight champ Ben Askren. Strangely, however, the UFC has still not officially announced the signing of Ben Askren. This has the former ONE welterweight champ wondering if the promotion is embarrassed.

Drake Riggs - October 30, 2018

The biggest knock on Ben Askren throughout his dominant MMA career has been that we haven’t seen him face the very best and he realizes that. But now we’re going to get too as the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight king is finally on his way to the UFC.