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Tuesday, Jan 06, 2015

Report: Ben Askren Says Dana White is Telling “Blatant Lies” About ONE FC Champ

Ben Askren celebrating his championship win (photo via ONE FC)

By FCF Staff

Ben Askren and UFC President Dana White have had several, heated exchanges through the media to date, and now the ONE FC welterweight champ has accused the latter of telling “blatant lies” about him.

Recently, White has claimed that people close to Askren, have informed him that the renowned wrestler isn’t truly interested in fighting in the UFC.  Askren repeatedly expressed his desire to sign with the UFC in 2013, when the former Bellator champ entered free agency. At the time, White argued that Askren’s record didn’t warrant a UFC contract.

Askren, who has since gone on to win ONE FC’s welterweight title, recently appeared on “The MMA Hour”. While discussing White’s more recent comments, the outspoken fighter reportedly stated (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“It’s just blatant lies,” Askren said. “Everything he told you is just a blatant lie about me.”

“There was a bunch of other stuff that he said, but at the end of the day, the only real mutual acquaintance we have would be Anthony Pettis, the champ, and I’ve never said anything of that manner to Anthony. I mean, the only thing that he could possibly equate with that is I said: if I do go to the UFC, I want to be paid fairly. So maybe he assumes that because someone wants to be paid fairly, they don’t want to fight in the UFC…”

The 30 year-old Askren stopped Nobutatsu Suzuki in the opening round last August to lay claim to ONE FC’s welterweight belt.

Askren has been criticized for having a conservative and grinding approach in the past, but the 14-0 fighter has finished four consecutive opponents.

posted by FCF Staff @ 12:10 pm
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