Undefeated welterweight contender Ben Askren had yet another unscripted backstage encounter ahead of his main card fight later tonight (Sat., July 6, 2019) at UFC 239 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
However, Jorge Masvidal, who will meet Askren at UFC 239, was not involved this time around.
Instead, Askren was confronted by a drunk fan backstage prior to a UFC 239 obligation. The fan was seen getting close to “Funky” and started to put his hands on Askren. The undefeated welterweight ultimately kept his cool, but seemed to get annoyed by the man’s escalated actions. Eventually, Askren batted the fan’s hands away and got out of Dodge as the man continued to ask what “Funky” was going to do to Masvidal at UFC 239.
Check out the incident below:
Was this a fan? Someone Ben knows? Either way he looked annoyed AF but kept his cool #UFC239 pic.twitter.com/nzuD61Q2Of
— jr (@fighttalking) July 4, 2019
“I did not know this guy, he was drunk and started badgering me,” wrote Askren via Twitter.
Pretty wild stuff, especially so close to fight time. We’re not too sure about where this incident took place, but it’s safe to say that somebody on the UFC security team dropped the ball on this one. Luckily, Askren is as chill as they come and did what he needed to do to avoid a serious situation.
We’ll see if all of these backstage encounters pay off for “Funky” later tonight at UFC 239 as he tries to knock off Masvidal and solidify his bid for a UFC title shot.