The 2 time NCAA champ, U.S. Olympic Wrestler, and undefeated Bellator Welterweight Champion recently became a free agent. His contract ended with Bellator and they haven’t made any moves towards keeping Askren as a fighter.
We aren’t sure what to think after hearing Bellator explicitly say they do not want to resign their champion. Askren became popular through the Bellator organization and holds a professional record of 12 – 0.
Bellator CEO – Bjorn Rebney (ESPN.com)
“I don’t think we’re going to make an offer at this point, so I don’t see any reason to make anybody sit out. If Ben’s going to go to the UFC, we should speed up that process so he can go fight. I’d love to see Ben versus GSP. If the UFC does make an offer, we’ll take a look at it and move on from there. We haven’t been proactive yet. I have nothing but good things to say about Ben as a fighter, but we’re all very aware of how he fights and what he does- it’s not for everyone.“
The UFC has show interest in Askren in the past, however UFC president Dana White has had many things to say about welterweight. Askren has a very unique dominating style of wrestling, and managed to win his last two fights by way of TKO.
It is a little strange seeing the way Bjnorn Rebney is handling the situation. In the past, Bellator was accused of holding fighter Eddie Alvarez captive under contract to keep him from leaving for the UFC.
Wherever “Funky” Ben Askren goes, we hope he works hard on becoming a more well-rounded fighter. While his style is dominant and clearly works for him, it seems his style of fighting is viewed as “boring” and isn’t going to be good for PPV numbers. Many people can’t appreciate his amazing ability to wrestle and would like to see more action in his bouts.
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