Ben Askren Understandably Dismisses Jorge Masvidal Title Shot Talk

Jorge Masvidal scored an emphatic, jaw-dropping knockout win over Darren Till at UFC London on Saturday. But, Ben Askren is understandably dismissing any talk that the victory should deliver “Gamebred” a title shot.

Leading up to UFC London, most hardcore fans and observers understood that Masvidal could present some serious troubles for the favorite Till, and that was indeed the case. After the emphatic victory, Masvidal pushed for a bout with the welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman, and the latter’s manager campaigned for that match-up as well.

Well, Askren was in London to attend the card, and while discussing the title shot picture afterward, “Funky” said this (quote via MMA Fighting):

“I would love to fight [Masvidal], but like I said, you heard that post-fight speech, I think he’s trying to find reasons not to fight me,” Askren said. “He’s talking about fight for the belt — prior to this fight, he had two losses in a row. You don’t go from losing two [in a row] to winning one and then all of a sudden you have a belt when there’s all these guys in front of you. It just doesn’t work that way.”

“No one likes Colby,” Askren said. “I don’t like Colby. I would love to skip over him and fight Usman, but it doesn’t seem like Usman wants that either. He’s not keeping that same energy, as the kids say. I would love to have him call me out. He didn’t. So, again, I thought Till was going to win tonight. I think we’ll go reevaluate. I’d love to fight Masvidal. I’d love to fight Leon Edwards.

Now, there’s no question that Masvidal has long been overlooked. The veteran fighter is one of the toughest, well rounded and experienced fighters on the UFC roster. He’s also extremely gifted on the mic.

But, at the end of the day, Masvidal was coming off back-to-back losses to Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia, before defeating Till. Yes, those defeats were by split decision, but, they are losses nonetheless. Heading into UFC London, Masvidal was ranked #11. Covington, love or hate him, has won six in a row, and he also secured the interim title during that time. Further, Dana White has already reportedly said that “Chaos” is next for a title shot.

So, at this juncture, a fight between Masvidal and Leon Edwards makes a lot more sense. Not only from a rankings’ perspective but because of all the drama that went down this past weekend.  Of course, a fight between Masvidal and Askren is also a possibility.