Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren continues to take shots at his UFC counterpart, 170-pound top dog Georges St-Pierre.
Speaking on MMAjunkie.com Radio, the “Funky” one believes that all it’s going to take to beat “Rush” is a relentless wrestler that can defend some of the champion’s famed takedowns.
“I think he lost a lot of the killer instinct he had when he was a lot younger,” Askren said of St-Pierre. “I know that’s tough to maintain when you’re at such a high level for so long, but I just think his title is there for the taking when someone goes in there and has a good solid wrestling base and is willing to fight hard for 25 minutes. They can take his title.”
While GSP just made his eighth consecutive title defense against Nick Diaz at UFC 158, a promotional record at 170-pounds, certain fans and fighters remain unimpressed.
The reason being was the victory over Diaz was St-Pierre’s sixth consecutive win via unanimous decision and it’s now been over four years since he has won a fight via knockout or submission.
Askren, an Olympic-level wrestler in the 2008 Olympics and a perfect 11-0 as a professional mixed martial artist, began criticizing GSP on Twitter last week, including gems such as this
@danawhite I know you like gambling.Me vs GSP $1000 a takedown at the @ufcfanexpo, I will give you 3-1 odds!
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) March 20, 2013
When the UFC president didn’t promptly respond, Askren didn’t mind upping the ante of his bet:
@danawhite I realize those odds I have you last night were not fair.How does 5-1 sound?
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) March 22, 2013
After the Roufusport stand out voiced his opinion that Johny Hendricks, the next man fighting for UFC welterweight gold, has a great chance at beating the French-Canadian, Askren speculated on how a fight between him and GSP would play out.
“I think obviously if we fought, I’d create scrambles I’d win,” he said. “And the other thing we saw – and I know (trainer) Firas Zahabi is making excuses – he got tired. He got really tired in the third, fourth and fifth round against Nick Diaz. But Diaz just doesn’t have the power to put GSP on his butt or put pressure on him … Nick Diaz just didn’t have the skill set he needed to beat him. I do”
Askren is 8-0 under the Bellator banner and has successfully defended his belt three times, waiting for the winner of Douglas Lima vs. Ben Saunders II to see who gets the next crack at his title.
The outspoken grappler already defeated Lima at Bellator 64 in April 2012, winning a one-sided unanimous decision.
Prior to his TKO (doctor stoppage) of Karl Amoussou at Bellator 86 in January, Askren had also taken six consecutive fights to the judge’s scorecards.
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