Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Ben Askren being Ben Askren on Twitter.
Former ONE and Bellator champion Ben Askren incurred his first career lost at UFC 239 early last month at the hands of Jorge Masvidal. The loss immediately put him at the back of the line among title contenders in the heavily stacked welterweight division.
Masvidal did call for his title shot after the win over the then-undefeated Askren. The UFC, however, was intent on having Colby Covington finally have his moment of glory if he ended up winning against Robbie Lawler at their scheduled matchup at UFC Newark on Saturday.
“Chaos” did win via a dominant unanimous decision verdict against the former UFC welterweight champion, earning him a title shot against current titleholder Kamaru Usman. As quite expected, Usman and Covington immediately began their exchange of tirades during the ESPN post-fight show.
Askren somehow found a way to throw a dig at the two men by using his own loss to Masvidal.
I want to apologize for losing bc now all of you have to listen to Marty and Colby talk to each other. It will be damn near unbearable.
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) August 3, 2019
“Funky” is matched up against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Demian Maia for a still undetermined date before the year ends. The two, however, already made a verbal agreement to fight at UFC Singapore on October 26th.