UFC 239 | Ben Askren believes Jorge Masvidal dislikes him because of fight purse disparity

Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal will finally settle their feud at UFC 239, during International Fight Week. The two have gone back-and-forth on social media, trash-talking each other . It first started when Askren went to London to pick a fight against the winner of Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal.

Now that the two are set to fight, the rivalry has only gotten more heated. Masvidal went on the Joe Rogan Experience and explained what he plans to do to Askren.

“I want to break his f*****g face, I want to break his f*****g rib cage. I don’t want to knock him out early on.” Masvidal said. “And I just want to torture that guy, man. If I get the chance to torture that guy for 14 minutes and 50 seconds before I stop him, that’s what I’m gonna do, man.”

As for why Masvidal dislikes Askren so much, ‘Funky’ can only assume, but believes it all starts with money.

“If I had to put words into his mouth for him, I would say he’s pissed that a punk white kid has came into the UFC and is making over double him. And, I’ve had no history in the UFC,” Askren said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (transcription via Bloody Elbow) “And so in his head that’s unjust and he doesn’t like that and that’s unfair. To that I would say, well listen there’s a reason I made my brand so valuable. There’s a reason I get paid what I do. And if you look at any type of metrics, which you have Ariel so you can verify this for me, my numbers are looking pretty damn good Jorge so suck it.”

In their last reported salaries, Askren made $250,000 to show plus a $150,000 win bonus. While in Masvidal’s last fight he made a reported $66,00 to show, $66,000 win bonus plus a $50,000 performance of the night bonus for a total of $247,000 compared to Askren’s total of $400,000.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, the two will see who the better fighter is on July 6. Hopefully, they can put this beef behind them after that. 

Who do you think wins the fight between Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/8/2019.