Ben Askren Claims Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington Turned Down Offers to Fight Him at UFC 233

Newly signed UFC fighter Ben Askren was in attendance backstage at last night’s UFC on FOX 31 event and spoke to reporters. During the scrum, he claimed he volunteered to fight both Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman for the now-cancelled UFC 233 event, and they both turned the fight down. Below are some highlights from the scrum (via MMAjunkie).

Askren on volunteering to face Colby Covington and Kamaru Usmand: “I volunteered to fight Colby, I volunteered to fight Usman, and they’re so scared. … Usman is the ultimate hypocrite, and he’s so dumb, he can’t even put his sentences together. He’s like, ‘I’m not a hypcrite. I said earn your shot.’ Well, no, that’s exactly why I said you’re a hypocrite, because that’s literally what Colby said to you. And then they pretend they don’t hear me.”

Ben Askren on having a better social media following: “Despite the fact that they’ve been in the UFC for four or five years, despite the fact that Colby won an interim and Usman’s pushing, their social media followings are still minuscule compared to mine. Despite Colby running his stupid-ass (“Make America Great Again”) gimmick, despite Marty from Nebraska trying to act like he’s Kamaru. And so they’re just uninteresting people. So I volunteered to fight either of them to save the Anaheim card, and they both of them said no. That’s the frickin’ truth.”