Despite Ben Askren’s misgivings, it seems that Dana White is happy that he’s in the UFC.
Ben Askren doesn’t think UFC president Dana White likes him. He’s made it very clear, before and after his controversial UFC 235 debut against Robbie Lawler, that White hasn’t wanted to talk to him or clear the air on their issues from before Askren was a part of the organization.
White appears to feel differently though. In a wide-ranking interview with Yahoo Sports, the subject of Askren came up. And White was quite complimentary of the undefeated former ONE and Bellator champ:
“Askren has been fun,” he said. “This guy’s smart, he’s funny, he likes to mix it up with everybody in a fun way, too. So it’s been good. I’m glad he’s here. Timing is everything in life and this was the perfect time for Ben Askren to be in the UFC.”
They might be clashing again soon though, because White and Askren have very differing opinions on what Askren’s next UFC move will be. The Funky one thinks he defeated Lawler, that’s that, and he’s going to move onto bigger and better things. But White wants them to run it back after the controversial ending that saw Askren win by choke, even though it looked like Lawler was fine:
“I’m trying to make the Lawler rematch. First of all, that fight was awesome, it was fun, it was controversial but it’s the fight to make right now. It’s terrible when that happens. That’s the fight we want to make.”