Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is still looking for a suitable headlining bout for its upcoming UFC 233 pay-per-view (PPV) event on January 26, 2018, which is set to go down inside The Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
With Welterweight champion’s Tyron Woodley’s health status up in the air, the chances of him facing off against Colby Covington at the event are growing slimmer by the day. That’s why UFC president Dana White hinted at another interim title.
Enter Ben Askren, who recently stated on the Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that he would be more than willing to fight for the strap against anyone UFC sees fight, be it Robbie Lawler — his current opponent for UFC 233 — or Kamaru Usman. “The Nigerian Nightmare” was not impressed, saying he would flatline “Funky”” should they ever fight.
“I’m a realist. I’m the type of person who’s never said never,” Usman stated on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (via BJPenn.com). “It is what it is at the end of the day, but let’s be honest, I will flatline that curly-headed f*ck boy. That’s pretty much it. I will flatline him. I will flatline that dude. Like let him run his mouth all he wants, I will flatline him,” said Usman.
Of course, Ben has never tasted defeat in his MMA career, so handing the wrestling powerhouse his first defeat won’t be an easy task.
An interim title fight between Ben and Kamaru would be an interesting fight to say the least. And since the promotion is having trouble finding a champion to fill the void for its first PPV event of 2019 — which recently suffered yet another blow — it may be one of UFC’s few options.
Usman kept his momentum going after out-working Rafael dos Anjos last week at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 28 Finale to earn a unanimous decision win (see it). The victory brought his streak to 13 in a row, including all of his nine UFC fights.
Anyone care to dissect how a fight between these two elite 170-pound fighters would play out?
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