Ben Askren is adamant he will be in London, England this Saturday night (March 19, 2019) to call out the winner of the UFC Fight Night 147 headlining fight between Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal.
If “Funky” had his way, though, he’d prefer to face Till, a man with whom he’s had a back-and-forth with ever since signing with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) last year. The only problem is Darren doesn’t feel Askren has done enough to warrant a fight against him.
“He can call out, but he’s gotta work his way up the ranks as well,” Till told MMA Fighting. “It all depends on who I want to fight next — not him. He only has one fight in the UFC. He needs to work his way up.”
While Till’s focus is on “Gamebred” at the moment, he can’t help but to shift attention to Askren since the powerhouse wrestler is constantly calling him out.
“I think he’s just promoting,” Till said. “Ben is a smart guy. I don’t know if he hates me. If he does, that’s just up to him. I don’t really give a f*ck about Ben any. I couldn’t care less what he’s doing, what he’s saying. I just reply when he tries to beef it up and it’s all good. It’s all business from me.”
As far as Ben’s UFC debut at UFC 235 where he scored a highly-controversial first-round submission win over Robbie Lawler, Till does give credit where it’s due just for surviving the “Ruthless” onslaught.
Still, before any talks of Till vs Askren surface, “The Gorilla” has to get through a hard test in Masvidal, who is looking to make his own noise in the very-crowded welterweight division. Plus, there is a matter of a potential rematch between Lawler and Askren, as well.
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