Ben Askren Says He’s Not in the UFC to Make Friends With Dana White

Ben Askren spoke with MMAjunkie before signing with the UFC earlier this month about his relationship with Dana White and more. Highlights are below:

On his contentious relationship with White: “I think when when one person and another person have a disagreement, the thing you need to do, if you want to have respect for each other, is sit down and have that conversation. We haven’t been able to do that so far. He’s said nice things (in) the media, but that’s also because I volunteered to do the dirty work. I volunteered to switch and be the main event against Robbie (at UFC 233), Robbie said no. I volunteered to fight ‘Marty from Nebraska’ (Kamaru Usman), ‘Marty’ said no. I volunteered to fight dumb Colby (Covington). So he sees the value in what I’m doing, so now he’s being nice. It’s whatever, though. What has happened in the past doesn’t just go away. Because of his position, he thinks that’s how it goes. But listen, I’m here to fight people in the cage, not be anyone’s best friend. If we develop a friendship, that’s fine. But I’m here to fight people in the cage.”

On White’s previous comments about him: “I’m sure to a certain extent, he believed it – it had kernels of truth in them. But there was a lot of BS in there. A few of them were total BS: ‘He needs more experience’? I mean, that one was the funniest one of them all. So a lot of them were BS.”