UFC 239: Jorge Masvidal details disdain for Ben Askren

Steven Muehlhausen

UFC 239: Jorge Masvidal details disdain for Ben Askren image

Jorge Masvidal's voice perks up in pure joy when he discusses stepping right into Darren Till's home country of England this past March and blasting the former title challenger inside two rounds.

"I love to scrap," Masvidal tells Sporting News. "Everybody knows that. It doesn’t matter if we fight in England, Las Vegas, Saturn. It doesn’t matter whether people are backing me up or not. I love my fans, but I fight for me. When I had my very first amateur fight, it was for me. My very first pro fight was for me. It doesn’t matter if the whole world I against me. I just like to compete. I love this sport.

"People like to tune in and watch me fight because I bring sheer violence with the science behind it," he continued. "I love what I do and I’m blessed to do it." 

Inevitably, the focus of the conversation turns to Ben Askren, Masvidal's opponent at UFC 239 on Saturday night.

From there, the tone in Masvidal's voice shifts dramatically to one where the tenor gets cranked up a bit and you can feel the disdain in his voice for the former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion. To the casual fan, his anger toward Askren is due to the controversial fashion that Askren beat Masvidal's teammate at American Top Team, Robbie Lawler, at UFC 235 in March. 

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But the animosity for the 34-year-old goes back to an incident long before 2019.

"I met him many years ago," Masvidal says of Askren. "He was a punk even back then. He was trying to make a joke one day after practice and came off like a f— idiot. He could have gotten slapped then, but we were at the gym. And then he goes on and talks about the workout we had. It’s so weak and pathetic. He’s not a man. He’s a punk. He’s a 30-year-old man who acts like he’s a teenager.

"He’s got to pay," Masvidal continues. "He just can’t go around and talk s— about everybody just to get famous and get one like on social media. He’s an attention whore. That’s not a guy I want to hang out with or socialize with." 

You'd think Masvidal was done. However, the man, who was on the street fighting circuits in Miami opposite Kimbo Slice, continued to sling the venom with vitriol and makes it clear on at least his end that he'll never see eye-to-eye with Askren.

"For starters, the guy is a straight up punk," Masvidal says. "He’s just the type of guy who will say anything to get a reaction and stir up a little bit of trouble and build his brand. He’s just a cornball."

And Masvidal's disdain for Askren extends further than his personality.

"He can’t punch. He can’t throw a jab. He knows nothing about fighting," Masvidal adds. "He talks about beating all these good fighters. He hasn’t beaten anybody. If he counts Robbie, then he knows nothing about the sport. The media might think differently, but I and the other fighters know otherwise and call him out for it. Robbie is legit royalty.

"Ben is good at putting his face in people’s crotches. He’s the f— best I’ve ever seen. I’m going to show him on July 6 that I’m the best in the world and he’s going to run into some serious problems."

UFC 239 features two titles fights at the top of the bill with Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos as the headliner, with Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm in the co-main event. But it's Masvidal and Askren that has garnered the majority of the headlines because of the hatred between the two and their actions leading into the company's biggest event to date in 2019. 

 

 

While it's a fight which made sense for Askren's sophomore outing inside the Octagon, "Gamebred" felt like he had bigger fish to fry and a win this weekend doesn't do him much good.

"I really didn’t care," Masvidal explains. "I don’t like Ben much as an individual. Obviously, I’m always trying to get the toughest fights. I’m going to prove this Saturday that Ben isn’t the toughest fight out there. He might think that in his head, but he’s just trying to sell a fight. He’s like a politician. He says whatever he can all the f— time to all you reporters and begging for interviews because I just did an interview. I’m friends with some reporters and they tell me how corny he is.

"Basically, this fight happened because the other guys ranked ahead of me were scheduled or at that moment, couldn’t fight," Masvidal continues. "So I took the next highest guy, which was Ben, who is under me. In my opinion, he isn’t No. 5 in the world. He hasn’t done anything in the UFC. To me, he’s 0-1 in the UFC. I’ll kick his ass and break his face and after that, move forward, and the UFC gives me the fights I deserve.

"A fight with Ben does nothing for my career. Absolutely nothing," he added. "If I smoke this guy in the first round and break his orbital eye bone, it does nothing for my career. Nobody is going to give a f—. This guy has never been in a fight. His last time out with Robbie Lawler, a real fighter, he almost got killed." 

"The referee called some weird s— and saved him because Robbie didn’t tap or go to sleep. Ben doesn’t have a win in the UFC. I have numerous wins in the UFC in every which way, and he has absolutely nothing. It’s a joke to me. But I’m a professional, and I’m going to show the difference between him and me."

The consensus among pundits is this is a No. 1 contender’s fight and the winner goes on to fight champion Kamaru Usman next. Masvidal agrees with the sentiment shared by others, but thinks he should have already been in the position to face Usman instead of having to go through his heated rival.

"To be honest with you, the win over Till should have had me fighting for the title," he says. "But I don’t have the massive following and a country behind me. I have a lot of fan support spread throughout the world. I don’t have that thing of where people will say, ‘Hey, this guy sells a lot of pay-per-views.' That’s why I don’t get those things. This fight should have been for the title. I beat Darren Till, who had just fought for the title and had only one loss in that fight to then-champion Tyron Woodley. I didn’t understand why I didn’t get the opportunity to fight for the title." 

A savoring win over Askren and Masvidal may get just that.

Steven Muehlhausen

Steven Muehlhausen Photo

Steven Muehlhausen is a contributing writer for DAZN News. He writes features and news stories, and provides analysis relating to the world of boxing. Over the past five years, he has interviewed some of the biggest names in combat sports, including Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Terence Crawford, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Bill Goldberg.