Since signing with the UFC in a trade deal which saw Demetrious Johnson go the other way to ONE Championship, Ben Askren has been on a social media crusade calling out his fellow welterweights.
Georges St-Pierre, Colby Covington, the Diaz brothers, Mike Perry, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, Jorge Masvidal, and even UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov have all been goaded into a fight by the unbeaten former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight kingpin.
But, for whatever reason, it’s Liverpool’s Darren Till who has seemingly caught Askren’s eye the most.
Till’s last fight was against Askren’s teammate and long-time friend Tyron Woodley, who is the current UFC welterweight titleholder.
Doubling down on his tweets, Askren took to MMAjunkie Radio (at 1 hour 29 mins) to try and secure a fight with Till, who the American believes would be an “easy target.”
“You know who I think sounds like an easy target – and I’m kind of picking him out because he sucks? It’s Darren Till,” Askren said [H/T Sherdog]. “And I don’t really like him, either. So it makes it really easy that I don’t like him – I’d like to beat him up.
“I think he sucks, so it’d be an easy fight. He’s ranked very highly, obviously. It’s like the kind of kid that needs to be taught a lesson. So I’m going to be like his good older brother. I’m going to take him in there, I’m going to hold him down, I’m going to slap him around.
“And then when no one’s listening, I’ll probably tell him, like, ‘You need to be a little more humble. You need to be a little bit more respectful. You need to take care of your kid that you abandoned.’ Beat his ass, make him a grown man.”
