Dana White praises Ben Askren, says having him in the UFC is ‘a breath of fresh air’

There was a time where it seemed like one of the best fighters to never fight in the UFC would never get that opportunity. However, it’s now 2018 and anything appears to be possible in the MMA world.

As one half of the first ever MMA ‘trade’, undefeated welterweight dominator ‘Funky’ Ben Askren has now joined the UFC roster.

With a perfect 18-0 record, the former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight king has had little to no trouble finding victory in his MMA career. Which is why he’s excited to finally make his claim as the best welterweight to ever step in a cage.

A big hurdle to get over for Askren in getting to this point was actually the UFC President Dana White who at a time was less than kind when speaking of Askren.

Now, that’s a completely different story as Dana White couldn’t have been nicer when addressing his newest welterweight acquisition.

“I like [him]. Listen, all this time, man, Ben Askren and I have had this thing, man,” White said in a recent media scrum (via TSN). “This guy wants to fight everybody. I love it. I love guys [like that] – especially in the 170-pound division. It’s a breath of fresh air when you have a guy who wants to fight everybody. I like it. I like his attitude and I like where his head’s at. A guy like that’s gonna make it far in this company.”

As soon as things became finalized for Askren’s transition to the UFC, he called out just about everyone for his promotional debut. In the end, he wound up drawing former champion ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler for UFC 233 on January 26.

Despite this, with a bit of a scramble atop the division, Askren has recently offered his services up to Kamaru Usman who is also looking for a crucial 170-pound tilt.

on 12/9/2018