Ben Askren feels Kamaru Usman’s efforts to get fans excited for his bouts have fallen flat.
Usman is the UFC welterweight champion. He had an instant classic with Colby Covington back in Dec. 2019. Usman successfully retained his 170-pound gold via fifth-round TKO. The bout earned MMA News’ 2019 Fight of the Year award.
Askren Calls Usman ‘Worst Promoter’ In MMA
Askren hasn’t denied the skills of Usman but he’s always criticized his personality. The former Bellator and ONE champion appeared on Submission Radio and explained why he believes Usman’s ability to hype his own fights leaves a lot of be desired (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“I think Usman is like the worst promoter in the history of mixed martial arts,” Askren said. “Because for me, here’s the thing: Colby is literally the most hated promoter, personality, fighter in the UFC, right? And so when Usman is going against him, it’s like OK, you’ve got the bad guy Colby, and then you’ve got Usman – who, all he has to do is he’s got to play the good guy and everyone’s gonna love him and everyone’s gonna cheer for him, right?
“But Usman just could not figure out how to make people like him. Like, he just could not figure it out. It would be so easy to make Colby the bad guy – he’s already the bad guy. He already plays the bad guy. It’s so simple. Just play into that and you’re the good guy – you’re the face, everyone loves you. But Usman couldn’t figure out how to do it.”
Many expect Usman to put his gold on the line against Jorge Masvidal in July. “The Nigerian Nightmare” and “Gamebred” were involved in a heated verbal exchange on Radio Row during Super Bowl week. The two had to be separated.
As for Askren, he retired from MMA competition after being submitted by Demian Maia. Askren went 1-2 under the UFC banner after having great success for other promotions. He was knocked out by Jorge Masvidal in five seconds, which was his first pro MMA loss.
