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MMA

27th Oct 2018

Ben Askren won’t be calling Conor McGregor out despite their prickly 2014 exchange

He's called out pretty much everyone else

Darragh Murphy

Ben Askren is on a call-out rampage

Georges St-Pierre, the Diaz brothers, Colby Covington, Darren Till, Jorge Masvidal, Alan Jouban and Khabib Nurmagomedov have all been targeted by the UFC-bound Askren in recent days as the undefeated welterweight looks to dive right into his new job.

Askren is going to be part of a historic trade deal which will see the UFC part ways with their former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in order to prise Askren away from ONE Championship.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters never to have competed in the Octagon, ‘Funky’ intends to cement his legacy by taking out the UFC’s elite while making plenty of money in the autumn of his fighting career.

You might have expected Askren to take aim at former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor for a well-deserved red panty night but the 34-year-old insists that he’s not going to bother calling ‘The Notorious’ out because, according to Askren, McGregor would never agree to a match-up with such a suffocating grappler.

Interestingly, Askren and McGregor had a fiery exchange via Twitter almost four years ago to the day.

After the Irishman was booked against Dennis Siver, Askren claimed that the UFC was protecting McGregor from wrestlers.

And after McGregor responded with the boast of a payday that he would now find laughable, Askren left him with a warning.

McGregor has fought at welterweight before and wants the chance to fight for the UFC’s 170 lbs belt before he retires and, considering the very real possibility that Askren gets his hands on that title before long, this match-up may end up taking place at some point in the future.