Last night, Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs destroyed UFC welterweight Ben Askren in an 11-0 technical fall in a charity wrestling match at Beat The Streets: Grapple At The Garden.
The result was not a wholly unexpected one. Burroughs is largely considered one of if not the best wrestlers in the world. Askren is a former NCAA champion who is considered one of the finest grapplers in mixed martial arts (MMA). He successfully made the transition from wrestling to MMA. He also won both the Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight belts in the process. Along the way, he acquired the rivalry with White and the UFC, however.
Askren retired as ONE champion in late 2017. He came out of retirement in the fall of 2018 when he was shockingly ‘traded’ for former UFC champ Demetrious Johnson. Bygones were bygones, and Askren went about becoming one of the most outspoken fighters in rapid fashion. Speaking recently on The Jim Rome Show, White spoke up about Askren’s move to the UFC:
“Askren is a very interesting guy. He and I have a long history of smack talk between us, and then he retired and was interested in coming into the UFC, and I think timing is everything, and the timing was right for him to come, and he’s been fun since he’s been here.“
Burroughs To UFC?
Indeed he is a very interesting guy. It could be argued he’s quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in the UFC right now. His nonstop trash talk is a big part of that, and it’s propelled him to unreal heights despite his perhaps less-than-exciting fighting style.
But even he couldn’t outlast Burroughs in a wrestling-only match. Rome brought up the topic of possibly bringing Burroughs into the UFC, to which White gushed he would:
“I’m always interested in, you know, these guys that are considered the best athletes in whatever it is they do wanting to come to the UFC. Yeah, obviously I’d be very interested.”
Dana White interested in U.S. Olympic wrestling gold medalist Jordan Burroughs from The Jim Rome Show on Vimeo.
Burroughs has not yet hinted at a move to mixed martial arts with any degree of certainty. In truth, it’s probably a very unlikely possibility. Yet with Burroughs recently putting his name on every major MMA site thanks to his dominant win over Askren, a move to MMA would be huge nonetheless.
The UFC has always had an infatuation with bringing top stars from other sports to the Octagon. They’ve done so even if it was controversial. The cases of James Toney and now Greg Hardy prove that. It may be difficult for White to convince Burroughs to come over to another sport.
But don’t put it past the polarizing UFC exec.
Maybe he can one day rematch Askren in ‘Funky’s’ area of expertise.
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