Turns out Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White, never actually hated newly-signed welterweight contender, Ben Askren. He simply didn’t give a shit about the “Funky” Olympian or his Pluto-bound “stupidness.”
As for the guys at AXS TV, they definitely hated him.
Then again, White may be walking back some of those comments from 2013, particularly the ones about not being interested in signing Askren. Probably because the former Bellator MMA welterweight champion recently joined the UFC’s 170-pound ranks.
“We just talked, this guy thinks I hate him,” White said (via MMA Fighting). “If I hated you, why would I do this deal? I’m the one who did this deal, I’m the one who came up with this deal. This was my idea. Why would I do this if I hated you so bad and didn’t want you to be here? I didn’t even know that he was blocked on Twitter.”
I’m sure he doesn’t know that MMAmania.com is blocked on Twitter, either, so hopefully the “girl who does it” will read this article and set things right. If not, I’ll be forced to propose a trade that sends senior writer Adam Guillen to UFC.com in exchange for Thomas Gerbasi.
Speaking of trades, Askren is under the Endeavor banner because former flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, was fed up with UFC and wanted to compete elsewhere, but that pesky contract of his gave him pause.
But with ONE Championship sending “Funky” to UFC, White and Co. were willing cut “Mighty Mouse” free and add a new face to the welterweight division. Now all we need is a date for his debut to find out if Askren is as good as he says he is.