VIDEO | Ben Askren shares clip of backstage run-in with Jorge Masvidal

By Tom Taylor - July 5, 2019

Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren, who are set to meet on the UFC 239 main card this Saturday, are not particularly big fans of one another. The pair have exchanged plenty of pre-fight trash talk in interviews and on social media, and that intensity has continued now that they’ve both landed in Las Vegas.

Ben Askren, Jorge Masvidal

In fact, the pair had a tense backstage encounter this week.

On Thursday night, Ben Askren shared a video of his backstage run-in with Jorge Masvidal. See it below.

“I can’t wait to break your face, baby” Masvidal said to his foe.

“Attempted intimidation,” Askren said to his cameraman as he exited the room. “I don’t know if it’s going to work for him.”

While Ben Askren seems pretty unconcerned with this bit of backstage saber-rattling from Jorge Masvidal, Masvidal feels that Askren “froze.”

“I saw him yesterday actually when no media was around, we were just in the lobby I was doing a photoshoot and he was being his pathetic self walking around and I jumped on him, and he just f**king froze,” Masvidal said, offering his take on the situation. “Then he started talking and walking away, I told him to be a man and come talk to me, and he said he had to use the bathroom. He’s just a f**king coward. When I see him on the fly and we’re face-to-face his behavior is that of which he is, a b**ch, a f**king sl*t. He looked stiff as a board.”

Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren are both riding huge wins in the UFC welterweight division. Masvidal last fought in London, where he knocked out England’s Darren Till. Askren, meanwhile, recently made his UFC debut, choking out the former champion Robbie Lawler.

Who do you think will win their anticipated welterweight grudge match at UFC 239?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/5/2019.


Topics:

Ben Askren Jorge Masvidal UFC