UFC 252: Sean O’Malley showed weakness getting stretchered out and needs to grow up, says Ben Askren
- Askren thinks ‘Sugar’ just ‘wanted to be out of there for whatever reason’ after TKO by Vera
- ‘It’s a fist fight, deal with it … get up, rub some dirt on it and hop to the back,’ former UFC star says
Ben Askren thinks Sean O’Malley needs to “grow up” after getting stretchered out of UFC 252.
“Sugar” (12-1) suffered his first professional loss after a serious leg injury led to a first-round TKO by Marlon “Chito” Vera (16-6-1) in Las Vegas last weekend.
“He wanted to just be out of there for whatever reason,” Askren said on Monday on ESPN’s “DC & Helwani” show, covering for usual co-host Daniel Cormier, who lost to Stipe Miocic on the same card in his final fight. “It’s a fist fight. Deal with it.”
“I’m saying he shouldn’t have done that,” former ONE Championship and Bellator champ Askren added. “Yes, [O’Malley] was in pain obviously. Listen, if you don’t have the expectation that you’re gonna be in pain when you get into a fist fight, you’ve got some bad expectations.”
O’Malley’s coach Tim Welch defender his fighter, responding to a video of Askren’s comments on Twitter.