Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Ben Askren doesn’t believe Nate Diaz should be fighting for the welterweight title anytime soon.
If Nate Diaz beats Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244 to crown himself the ‘baddest motherf-cker’ (BMF) on the planet, should he be eligible for a title shot against the winner of Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington?
Former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champ turned UFC welterweight contender Ben Askren doesn’t seem to think so, as he believes Diaz is far too inactive to be considered a legitimate UFC title challenger.
Should Masvidal win, however, ‘Funky’ believes it would be fair for ‘Gamebred’ to fight the winner of Usman-Covington.
“Oh, the BMF, that’s a one-off,” Askren said in a recent interview with Submission Radio (h/t Jon Fuentes of Low Kick MMA). “They’re gonna do it one time and it’s whatever, it’s gone. You know, handed it one time, it’s kind of cool, now done and gone with. So, I think if Jorge wins, then he gets a title shot, and I would venture to guess that’s who’s gonna win.”
“Although, I can’t be entirely certain, that’s where I would probably lean. And if Nate wins, I just have a hard time (giving him a title shot). Could you give him a title shot? Sure, right? But then again, he’s only beaten Anthony and Jorge, and that’s really it in the last, what, he took three years off or something? So that makes him challenging for the title fight. So, I think he could, but you probably would look to put him in a different fight of some kind. And then if Jorge wins, then I believe Jorge goes for a title.”
Askren will look to rebound from his knockout loss to Masvidal when he takes on fellow grappling ace Demian Maia at UFC on ESPN+ 20 on Oct. 26.
Just one week later, on Nov. 2, Diaz and Masvidal will square off for the BMF title in the UFC 244 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York.