The Ben Askren on the UFC roster train rolls on. Arguably the best fighter to never compete in the UFC, asterisk Fedor, may finally show up if the reports are true. At 34 he still has some gas left in the tank but the questions will be how much and whether or not he missed his window to be as dominant as he was in other organizations. One person who feels his best days are still ahead is UFC welterweight champion and friend Tyron Woodley. Here’s what he said to Damon Martin of MMANYT (via MMAmania)…
I’m happy for my homie Ben Askren, he’s one of the best fighters in the world. Not just UFC, not just Bellator, not just ONE FC, he’s had a remarkable career combatively. I would consider wrestling a combative sport as well. Four time finalist in the NCAA’s, [two] time champ, only lost to two individuals ever in collegiate wrestling, made an Olympic team. He really revolutionized scrambling or as he calls it ‘funk’…Phenomenal guy, my wrestling coach, obviously my teammate.
Askren himself is the one calling out opponents for his likely debut. Who did he call out? None other than UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov but there was a catch. Here’s what he posted on Twitter…
And @TeamKhabib I’ll meet you at 165 to determine the best MMA grappler on planet earth! You just name the time and send location.
165 will be a division. @ufc just need a star to start it, like Rousey for women’s 135. Well they got a star, take that shit to the bank.
Dana White already put the squash on that but with Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, and a host of others echoing Askren’s call for the weight class. Will it happen? Only Dana knows. What do you guys think of all this?