Ben Askren calls for a showdown against former title contender Darren Till in London England.
The former ONE and Bellator welterweight champion spoke on the Rudis Wrestling podcast that he co-hosts about various topics. This included his move from ONE to the UFC where he mentioned who he’d like to face first, where Till’s name came up.
Askren made it known that he would like to fight Georges St-Pierre or Khabib Nurmagomedov in his promotional debut. However, he’s a realist and knows that probably won’t happen.
Instead, he’ll have to prove himself to not only the fanbase but the UFC. Thus, he’ll have to take on a tough challenger. This is where Till steps in.
“Obviously, my number one and two would be GSP [Georges St-Pierre] and Khabib [Nurmagomedov] but I know there’s no way in hell I’m getting either one of those two first round,” Askren said (H/T to MMAFighting). “So I’m hoping to get matched up with this Englishman named Darren Till.”
Till is coming off the first loss in his pro-MMA career but is looking ahead. As seen in the main event of the UFC 228 pay-per-view event in Dallas, Texas, Tyron Woodley was able to score a second-round submission victory over Till.
As a result, he retained his welterweight title. Askren brought this up as his reasoning why he wants this fight.
So much so, that he’s willing to go to London to get it.
“He just fought for the world title, he’s ranked number two. I had a little Twitter fight with him. I think he’s significantly overrated. So I would like to fight him. I’m willing to go to London to fight him, so we will see what happens with that,” Askren said.
