Ben Askren News

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2018

The UFC is headed back to London, England’s O2 Arena on Saturday, March 16. The promotion announced this news on Thursday. “Ever since our first event in London in 2002, the city has always been a special location for the UFC. The fans here are some of the most passionate in the world and always turn up in their numbers to show their support,” UFC Senior Vice President, International and Content, David Shaw said in an official release (via MMA Mania). “The UK is home to many of our world class mixed martial artists and its fantastic to see the sport continue to go from strength to strength here. It’s going to be a great night of action.”

Tom Taylor - November 2, 2018

For a fleeting moment, Sijara Eubanks was expected to battle Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women’s flyweight title in the main event of UFC 230, which goes down in New York City this Saturday night. After a wave of fan backlash, however, the UFC backtracked on this plan, and booked a heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis to headline the card. As you can probably imagine, this change didn’t go over well with Eubanks. Luckily, the UFC was able to keep her on the card, relocating her to an undercard scrap with Roxanne Modafferi.

Tom Taylor - November 1, 2018

Over the last few days, former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king Ben Askren has taken numerous shots at recent UFC welterweight title challenger Darren Till on social media, suggesting that he’d like to fight the Brit in his anticipated UFC debut. Speaking on a recent episode of his Rudis Wrestling podcast, Askren made it official, naming Daren Till as his choice opponent for his debut, and divulging that he’d even be willing to fight the Brit on his home turf.

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2018

Ever since news of his move to the UFC surfaced, Ben Askren has been picking fights on social media with many of his peers in the UFC welterweight division. That said, he is not limiting his Twitter warfare to his rivals in his new division. On Tuesday, the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight kingpin unleashed a multi-part Twitter assault on Conor McGregor training partner and Bellator MMA star Dillon Danis.

Tom Taylor - October 30, 2018

The history-making trade is a done deal. Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has been sent to ONE Championship in exchange for former ONE welterweight champ Ben Askren. Strangely, however, the UFC has still not officially announced the signing of Ben Askren. This has the former ONE welterweight champ wondering if the promotion is embarrassed.

Drake Riggs - October 30, 2018

The biggest knock on Ben Askren throughout his dominant MMA career has been that we haven’t seen him face the very best and he realizes that. But now we’re going to get too as the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight king is finally on his way to the UFC.

Drake Riggs - October 29, 2018

Believe it or not, it has happened. Former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king Ben Askren has finally made his way to the UFC. Now that he has made it, he’ll need someone to make his debut against. When asked about who Askren will fight first, UFC president Dana White responded to TMZ with the following.

Tom Taylor - October 29, 2018

By moving to the UFC, Ben Askren has opened the door to dozens of exciting new matchups, and he’s already started laying the foundation for some of those new fights. There is one matchup, however, that seems to be off the table: one with reigning UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, to remind, are frequent training partners at Roufusport in Milwaukee. The relationship they’ve developed inside the Milwaukee gym is strong enough that Askren assures he’ll simply never fight the reigning champion.

Chris Taylor - October 26, 2018

Ben Askren is currently in the process of being traded from ONE Championship to the UFC in exchange for former flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson. The historic trade, which is expected to be finalized very soon, could have a significant impact on the sport and its athletes moving forward.

Tom Taylor - October 26, 2018

Since news of his potential move to the UFC broke, former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren has called out many of the UFC’s top welterweights. That said, he did not initially make a callout of former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who is far and away the biggest star in MMA history. On Friday morning, that changed.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2018

UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley believes his friend and teammate Ben Askren would easily defeat the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre. The current UFC welterweight champion, Woodley, has known the former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight title holder, Askren, for a long time. The pair originally wrestled together at University of Missouri, this before once again linking up to train under legendary striking coach Duke Roufus in Milwaukee.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2018

Undefeated welterweight Ben Askren has responded to callouts from a number of different UFC Fighters in wake of his potential trade, but it is undefeated UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov who has his attention. The former ONE and Bellator welterweight title holder, Askren, is apparently very close to being traded by ONE Championship to the UFC in exchange for former flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

Ben Askren’s move to the UFC is not even official yet, and he’s already put half of the welterweight division on notice While the former ONE and Bellator welterweight champ has already stated that UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington could be the first UFC fighter on his hit list, he’s also recently set his sights on recent welterweight title challenger Darren Till, and long-time top-10 staple Jorge Masvidal.

Tom Taylor - October 25, 2018

On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the UFC and Singapore’s ONE Championship are closing in on a history-making fighter trade. This potential trade would see ONE Championship send its former welterweight champion Ben Askren to the UFC, and the UFC send its former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to the Singapore-based promotion. It did not take long for the MMA community to begin imagining matchups for both fighters in their new potential homes. Ben Askren himself, however, feels like the UFC welterweight division has gone silent since the news of his possible arrival surfaced.

Drake Riggs - October 24, 2018

Nothing has been announced officially yet by the UFC…but if Ben Askren himself is any indication, it very well might be. Earlier today a report that a historic and groundbreaking potential “trade” was in the works between the UFC and ONE Championship. The “trade” between the organizations is an exchange between former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and the former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion Askren.

Cole Shelton - October 24, 2018

UFC fans have been wanting Ben Askren to join the UFC for quite some time now. Well, it appears they are finally getting their wish. It is being reported by Ariel Helwani of ESPN that the UFC and ONE Championship are close to a deal that would send Askren to the UFC and Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship. This kind of MMA trade is unheard of, and once it becomes official, Askren will have plenty of options for who he can fight in the UFC.

Drake Riggs - October 22, 2018

It appears that we may now be closer than we ever have been in getting to see “Funky” Ben Askren step inside the UFC Octagon. One of the most unfortunate cases in the history of MMA has been not getting to see the 18-0 former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion competing for the world’s leader in the sport. But that could all be changing sometime in the near future.

Tom Taylor - September 28, 2018

Nate Diaz wants the UFC to upgrade his upcoming UFC 230 lightweight contender fight with Dustin Poirier to a championship fight in new, currently hypothetical 165-pound division. Unfortunately for him, the UFC doesn’t seem into this idea. His response? “Don’t be scared.”