Ben Askren has made it a habit to call fighters out through social media and stirring things up. The latest name on that list is Kamaru Usman, whom Ben Askren claims has become a hypocrite by ducking him. In an appearance on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” on Monday, Usman issued a fiery response to Askren:
“I started wrestling when I was 14, 15 years old, when some of these kids have been wrestling since they were four years old,” Usman began. “And in that short amount of time, I was already placing at state by the time I graduated: less than four years! When I went to college in that span of four years, I was a three-time All American (and) a national champion! Now, a lot of those guys (say), oh, that was Division II. Division II or not, I beat the shit out of a lot of Division I’s and a lot of Division I champions.
“You know how many Olympic medals I have? You know how many Ben Askren has? None. Don’t let this guy come in here and fool you guys and run his mouth because he just wants some clout. He’s the new prostitute in the yard. That’s all he is. He’s just gonna run his mouth about everybody just to try to gain some fans and get some popularity. Who is this guy? What has he done?”
Kamaru Usman believes he has identified a pattern in Ben Askren’s public antics, and he has no interest in taking part in it:
“When Khabib was hot and he’s coming in, he’s, ‘Oh, I want to fight Khabib. I want to fight Khabib.’ Because Khabib was hot. And when Darren Till fights Tyron Woodley, he’s hot at the time: ‘Oh, I want to beat up Darren Till. I want to beat up Darren Till. And look, now he’s tweeting about Conor? He’s just chasing clout. That’s the thing with MMA. I can’t believe that some of these fans are actually giving this guy an audience for him to talk.”
There are only two possible opponents for Kamaru Usman right now “The Nigerian Nightmare” maintains, and Ben Askren is not one of them.
“Don’t forget, I’m chasing the title,” Usman said. “That’s it for me. That’s what I want. I want the title. But if I can’t get that title, in the meantime, I was willing to fight Colby Covington.
“Who is this curly-headed idiot that hasn’t earned anything? I’m the guy that has to continue to fight guys that don’t deserve to fight me. I’ve proven myself. I’ve dominated each and every one. I am 9-0 in the UFC. The last people that have done that have all fought for titles! Like, what are they talking about? It’s not even nothing to talk about.”
What are your thoughts on this retort from Kamaru Usman?
