Former UFC, Bellator, and ONE welterweight Ben Askren has criticized Jorge Masvidal’s conduct following his loss to Colby Covington at UFC 272.
At last weekend’s pay-per-view, one of the promotion’s long-awaited grudge matches took center stage. As former teammates, roommates, and friends, and now bitter rivals, the lead-up to the Las Vegas held event was always going to be a fiery affair.
That certainly turned out to be true, with a host of insults and jibes flying back and forth during fight week, at the press conference, and even during the five-round contest.
After 25 minutes of action, Covington, who had dominated much of the contest, was awarded a comfortable unanimous decision victory.
While “Chaos” had put his previous feud versus reigning welterweight king Kamaru Usman to bed following their fight last November with a show of respect, that certainly wasn’t the case at UFC 272.
After the final horn, security had to swarm the cage as the pair continued their exchanges. That certainly confused Askren, a former opponent of Masvidal, who questioned why “Gamebred” searched for a scrap after having 25 minutes to do what he wanted to Covington.
“It was kinda what we expected. The thing that I get annoyed about is Jorge wants to fight him after the fight, and it’s like, listen, you just had 25 minutes to do almost anything you want,” Askren pointed out during an appearance on The MMA Hour. “You can’t eye gauge and bite, you know, we’ve got a couple rules, but not a lot. So you could do whatever you wanted for 25 minutes, and now you’re gonna act like you want more? Hey, you had 25 minutes, freakin’ do it to him.”
UFC 272 Wasn’t The Only Criticism Askren Sent Masvidal’s Way…
While Masvidal’s defeat and post-fight antics drew the brunt of Askren’s criticism, “Funky” left some in the tank for later.
This time, the focus was on a new piece of ink Masvidal debuted during fight week. The tattoo is of the Miami native’s infamous flying knee knockout of Askren back in 2019. The KO, which remains the fastest in UFC history, is arguably what truly shot Masvidal into stardom.
Discussing the tattoo he had a part in laying the foundations for, Askren branded Masvidal’s latest ink as “terrible.”
“Ha, it’s terrible. Like, oh, God. It just looks like crap,” said Askren. “That’s something a teenager gets and you’re like, ‘Oh shit, I thought that was gonna look a lot better. I thought this was gonna be really badass, but it looks kinda dopey.’ You’d think (because) he’s rich, he could go get the best tattoo artist in the place.”
Askren also pointed out that Masvidal’s decision to immortalize the moment on his body perhaps signifies how important it was in taking his career to the next level.
“I think it’s semi-telling how important that singular moment was to his career, and he knows it,” claimed Askren. “And he tattooed it on his body because it was that important to him.”
Do you agree with Ben Askren’s takes on Jorge Masvidal’s post-fight attitude at UFC 272 and new piece of ink?
