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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC President Dana White continues to contend that welterweight Ben Askren just doesn't want to be in the UFC, responding in the latest edition of The Download on UFC.com to Askren's reaction to the CM Punk signing.
First, here's what Askren commented when the deal was revealed earlier this month:
All you dummies believed @danawhite when he said I need more experience. Then he signs a 0-0 fake wrestler. LOL on you
"The thing is with Ben Askren is that Ben Askren doesn't really want to fight here, in my opinion," White said. "People that are close to him say the same thing. The guy is making a ton of money to fight nobodies, but when you talk and you say a lot of things it keeps your name out there. Trust me when I tell you this, Ben Askren does not want to fight in the UFC. Believe me when I tell you that."
Penick's Analysis: For starters, if Askren doesn't want to fight in the UFC right at this moment, it's because of the way the UFC handled things when they should have brought him in earlier this year. The very thing Askren talks about here with White saying he needed more experience to fight in the UFC and them not bothering to offer him a deal of any kind are all their own actions. They are the ones who started souring things, so White now saying this like it's Askren's fault he's not in the Octagon is flat out ridiculous. Besides, I'll believe Askren on this one if he comes out and says he'd fight in the UFC, not White assuring us all based on whom he says are people "close" to Askren.
[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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