UFC: Ben Askren says Jorge Masvidal still owes him a thank you after 5-second flying knee KO
- Askren says he did not see Masvidal’s surge in popularity coming, and congratulates him for ‘actually showing up to media opportunities’
- ‘Are we gonna be friends? No. Either we ignore each other or he attacks me and we fight again’
Jorge Masvidal’s stunning five-second flying knee KO of Ben Askren certainly catapulted him into MMA superstardom. And Askren thinks he’s owed a thank you.
The former Olympic wrestler’s undefeated streak in the cage came to a very abrupt end in July, with Masvidal setting the record for fastest knockout in UFC history and becoming one of the company’s hottest properties.
“Gamebred” will face Nate Diaz in the main event at UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden for the “BMF” title belt, and is enjoying the limelight with a surge in mainstream popularity.
“I really did not see it coming,” Askren told Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “He’s still not said thank you.
“No, if you think about him going into that March fight with Darren Till, barely anyone was talking about him. He hadn’t fought in a year, he’d lost his last two fights. That’s MMA, the landscape can charge in a heartbeat. It can and it does very frequently.
“Obviously since my fight he’s got a lot of great media opportunities, he’s actually taking advantage of them, he’s showing up to them which is part of the job. I think him or Nate will be a giant negotiating piece between Colby [Covington] and Marty [welterweight champion Kamaru Usman].”
