There is certainly no shortage of welterweights (and middleweights, ahem, Anderson Silva) that want to face Georges St-Pierre, and of course you can chalk up reigning and dominating Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren to that long and growing list. Askren has yet to be challenged in his 11-0 career while taking on some pretty damn decent competition. You could talk ground and pound fighters, and dominating wrestlers who control the fight and think GSP, or many other fighters who love to hold top position for better or worse, but Ben Askren is quite possibly the best of them.
Askren is a former Olympian, and has developed rapidly under Anthony Pettis father-figure, Duke Roufus, in the MMA game while holding onto his strap in Bellator. Usually, it’s the guy getting better and then nabbing the strap, which makes Askren that much more impressive. His most recent win was a dominating bloodbath in which Askren demolished the face of Karl Amoussou, the french striker and submission artist. As he waits for his next challenger to come out of the Douglas Lima/Ben Saunders fight, it’s good to know Askren feels confident.
This is what Askren tweeted after UFC 158.
“After tonight I am 100% sure I could beat GSP. GSP is no longer an aggressive striker. He will not out wrestle or grapple me. He gets tired. Simple enough.”
Strong words, but maybe Askren has a point. We’ve never seen Askren get tired, and seeing GSP on his back (if Askren could get him there) would be interesting to see. Too bad this fight will probably never happen.
