Undefeated welterweight Ben Askren is not too worried about his upcoming fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 this weekend.
Jorge Masvidal notched an important win on last March when he knocked out Darren Till inside two rounds in London. It was a victory that catapulted him to the number four spot at the UFC’s official rankings.
“Gamebred” will now face the undefeated Ben Askren this weekend at UFC 239. And according to Askren, it was a matchup he’s been wanting since after the Till fight.
“Going in to the fight with Masvidal, I thought Till was going to win,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “Masvidal was already making excuses so I didn’t really think it was a good possibility of me fighting Masvidal but then when he won, they started looking around at opponents for me and “Wonderboy” lost and Masvidal was the one that made the most sense.
“I just had to goad him into saying yes, which I did, and here we are.”
As for the fight itself, Askren isn’t too worried about what Masvidal brings to the table.
“I think it’s pretty easy,” Askren said of the Masvidal fight. “He’s simple right? He’s got good hands but his wrestling’s not great. His jiu-jitsu’s not great. His strength is not great. His cardio’s not great. So when you break it down like that, it becomes pretty simple.
“To prove I’m the best in the world is the one goal I came back for because I was retired. I think this (fight) puts me closer to that.”
UFC 239 takes place this Saturday, July 6th in Las Vegas. It is headlined by the light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Thiago Santos.