UFC London headliners Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal are in agreement on one topic ahead of their bout this weekend: Ben Askren.
Ben Askren has stated that he would love to face the winner of the Till/Askren bout at UFC London this weekend, and Jorge Masvidal shut down that conversation in a recent interview, and now Darren Till is doing the same:
“He can call out, but he’s gotta work his way up the ranks as well,” Till told MMA Fighting. “It all depends on who I want to fight next — not him. He only has one fight in the UFC. He needs to work his way up.”
Darren Till and Ben Askren have taken part in their fair share of banter on social media, but if Askren and fans were expecting the trash talk between them to materialize into a fight, Darren Till brought that chatter to a hush:
“I don’t give a f*ck,” Till said of the social media exchanges between he and Askren. “It’s not personal to me. It’s all business. So, my attention is on the welterweight gold. He gets a bit of attention like any welterweight gets attention. Obviously, Masvidal gets the most attention. It’s just business as usual.
“I think he’s just promoting. Ben is a smart guy. I don’t know if he hates me. If he does, that’s just up to him. I don’t really give a f*ck about Ben any. I couldn’t care less what he’s doing, what he’s saying. I just reply when he tries to beef it up and it’s all good. It’s all business from me.”
Where Till and Masvidal diverge is that while Masvidal does not give Ben Askren credit for his controversial victory over Robbie Lawler at UFC 235, which is the primary reason Masvidal is not interested in the fight. But Darren Till does give Askren credit for the win, controversial or not.
“I think he won the fight. I think it was a good stoppage. But he definitely got a hard fight in Robbie Lawler. You can’t take the credit away. He did win the fight. The referee stopped it, so he obviously won the fight.”
Do you believe that Ben Askren should face the winner of Darren Till vs. Jorge Masvidal?
