UFC 170's Patrick Cummins responds to Ben Askren: 'Durkin' doesn't play funky 'chess games,' he 'goes for broke'

Ben Askren wasn't too happy upon hearing the news that Patrick Cummins got his chance to compete inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Octagon -- albeit by default -- with only four fights on the regional circuit under his belt.

And in a co-main event slot against Daniel Cormier at this weekend's (Feb. 22, 2014) UFC 170 pay-per-view (PPV) event, no less.

That's because "Funky," the former Bellator welterweight champion, wasn't given his chance to fight inside the world-famous Octagon, even after he offered to do it for free.

According to Cummins, one of the reasons he got the nod and Ben didn't, is because unlike Askren, Patrick goes for broke in his fights instead of opting to play a chess game.

"Durkin" broke it down to USA Today:

"I get it, Ben Askren is a little sore about the whole, 'Hey, how come I'm not the guy? I'm the decorated wrestler here, what's the deal?' I know that to a lot of people, one wrestler is the same as another, but that's not the case. I'm not out there looking to grab an ankle and roll around and get all funky. That's not my style of wrestling. My style of wrestling is explosive, in your face and I want to exploit the conditioning issue as much as possible. That's what you want, you want to see two guys pushing, leaving it all out there. And I think that's what I bring. Ben Askren is more of a, 'I'm going to play the chess game to win,' and I'm going for broke. I'm getting after it hard. I mean, maybe that doesn't come across in the four fights that they've seen, but, I got four finishes in four fights all in the first round. I think that says something."

Indeed, Cummins has proven he has the tools to finish fights with two submissions and a pair of technical knockout victories to his credit.

While Askren has been labeled as a boring fighter in the past, with six of his last eight wins coming via decision. In his last two outings, however, the former Olympian ended his Bellator career with two technical knockout victories.

It still wasn't good enough to earn him a ticket to the big show, but it was for ONE FC.