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Ben Askren is able to be part of Jorge Masvidal in un-retirement.
On Monday, Masvidal kicked off the brand new yr by announcing he is ending his eight-month retirement. For the time being, there aren’t any particulars on the when Masvidal will return. However every time it occurs, Askren mentioned he’d be glad to un-retire and combat him once more, notably if the UFC wants an enormous combat for its upcoming UFC 300 present.
“Hear, if Dana known as me and mentioned, ‘Jorge Masvidal, UFC 300,’ I don’t give a rattling – I’m out of retirement,” Askren mentioned on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel. “I’ll combat him. I don’t care. I might like to.”
Askren performed a pivotal position in Masvidal’s ascension to superstardom when he was on the receiving finish of Masvidal’s well-known flying-knee knockout at UFC 239. The 2 had a heated rivalry heading into the combat, and since then, Askren has repeatedly advised he’d like one other crack at “Gamebred.”
With UFC 300 nonetheless in want of huge fights, an Askren-Masvidal rematch might make sense, however there can be numerous hurdles to leap by means of. First, each males have been retired from the game and out of the anti-doping testing pool, so that they would wish to obtain exemptions from the promotion to compete at UFC 300. And even when they received them, Askren stays skeptical Masvidal would conform to the matchup.
“However he’ll by no means say sure to that, until he loses some extra money or one thing,” Askren mentioned. “However it will be nice. I might like to. It’s a kind of issues. … I don’t wish to be begging and groveling for it. It’s unlikely to occur. So it’s like, if somebody calls me and says it’s going to occur, OK, I’m there. In the event that they don’t, I’m simply going to dwell my life.”
Following their combat, Masvidal went on to win the BMF title by beating Nate Diaz. He then twice challenged for the UFC welterweight title and retired this previous April after shedding to Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. Since then, he’s been centered on his personal combat promotion, Gamebred MMA.
Askren, in the meantime, fought simply as soon as extra, shedding to Demian Maia in 2019 earlier than hanging up his MMA gloves. Regardless of his lengthy layoff, he’s mentioned he’s nonetheless in ok form to take a combat with Masvidal on only a few months’ discover.
“I’m prepared,” he mentioned. “I keep in form. I’m wrestling loads. I don’t strike a lot — I don’t strike in any respect, I simply wrestle. However I’m in fine condition. If he desires to combat, nice. However I’m not going to marketing campaign for it.”
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