Leave it to Dillon Danis to kick Ben Askren while he’s down.
Former Bellator and ONE champion Askren was on top of the MMA world heading into his match-up with Jorge Masvidal at last month’s UFC 239. He had won his UFC debut in high-profile (albeit controversial) fashion. Perhaps more importantly, however, he had risen to the status of one of the UFC’s biggest stars by spewing a monstrous load of trash talk about everything and everyone.
But as they say, that works right up until it doesn’t.
Askren was brutally knocked out by a Masvidal flying knee in just five seconds. It was the fastest knockout in UFC history, in fact. And not only did it knock Askren out, but it knocked out his chances of getting his coveted UFC title shot as well. Predictably, many have jumped all over “Funky” in the time since.
His online rival Danis is no different. The Bellator featherweight only has two pro-MMA bouts on his record. That didn’t stop him from teasing a cross-promotional bout with the much bigger Askren this year. Yet now that Askren lost, he’s got no respect for him.
Askren revealed he muted Danis on Twitter on ‘Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show’ earlier today. Danis had quite the response:
“Not gonna lie lost all respect for @Benaskren saying he muted me on Twitter, if you can’t take it don’t give it pussy.”
That tweet would imply that Danis had respect for Askren in the first place. Such a claim is highly debatable.
Danis has risen to fame as the friend and training partner of MMA megastar Conor McGregor. He was at the center of the infamous UFC 229 post-fight brawl last October. Danis is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion who competes in Bellator, but he’s got a long way to go to attain Askren’s status.
Because of those reasons, they won’t be facing off in the cage anytime soon if ever. And now, it seems they won’t be talking on Twitter either. Something tells me they’ll find a way to sneak in some over-the-top insults nonetheless.
