Ben Askren Offers Career Advice To Leon Edwards
There was some talk from Edwards that he should’ve been in the main event of the show, which has lead to Ben Askren offering the fighter some advice on how to get that done in the future.
“This is what Leon Edwards doesn’t understand; he’s asking, ‘Why is Ben Askren in London?’ It’s like, Leon, do you see all the numbers I am getting on pretty much every social media? Do you see why Ariel has me on every single week? It’s because people, for some reason, and I don’t know why, people now find me at least semi-interesting and they want to see me get in the Octagon. So you need to do something similar to yourself and then you will be able to get the bigger fights,” Askren said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (via Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania).
Edwards was also involved in a post-fight brawl at the same event with Jorge Masvidal, but neither fighter was punished for what went down.
Speaking of Masvidal, an undefeated Askren also had a brief encounter with his UFC 239 opponent.
“I’m standing upstairs, then he walks up the stairs. So I say, ‘Hey, Jorge is here.’ And then he gets pissed. It doesn’t take anything to piss these guys off, it’s kind of funny. Just like the Marty scene. All I said was, ‘You are not going to make me sit next to Marty, are you?’ And he got irate,” said Askren. “It doesn’t not take much to make these guys mad. It’s kind of hilarious. So he starts cussing at me, I look at him, smile and he walks by to do his interview and that was it. Obviously I am not going to fight this guy in the hotel, I fight in the Octagon for a lot of money. But there was definitely no running away or me wishing him good luck or anything like that. It was a simple exchange and I don’t know why he felt the need to lie about it.”
UFC 239 takes place on Saturday, July 6 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Jon Jones and Thiago Santos headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
