You guys, I don’t claim to be a prophet all that often, save for when I accurately predict which chef will be eliminated each round on Chopped, but today is one of those days.
When it was first announced that Ben Askren was (somewhat inexplicably) headed to One FC some two days ago, I suggested that the former Bellator kingpin take on Phil Baroni in his promotional debut. It was the fight I wanted to see, and therefore, the fight fans wanted to see. Perhaps most importantly, Baroni is the only other member of the One FC welterweight roster I could name off the top of my head, so how could this fight not make perfect sense?
In any case, you can understand my excitement when opening up the Twitter earlier today to see the above tweet. Because as boring as Ben Askren truly is in the cage, he is equally entertaining online. And it turns out that the following tweet was only part of what was a beautiful back and forth between Askren and Baroni, a back and forth that is sure to lead to a future showdown pairing old guard against new guard despite the fact that the old guard’s body is literally disintegrating beneath him.
Join us after the jump for what will surely go down in the history books as the catalyst to the greatest MMA feud of all time.
I’m guessing that Askren is referring to Baroni’s emotional post-fight interview after UFC 125 here, in which case, low blow, bro. Just because Phil is “The Best Eva” doesn’t mean he is impervious to criticism. The man has a lot of feelings, and you’re hurting damn near every one of them. So unless Askren plans on burying the hatchet with Baroni over a slice of pizza and a game of paintball, I say we let these two hug slug it out in the cage until the audience falls asleep someone falls over. Who’s with me?