{"id":295956,"date":"2018-12-24T08:48:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T16:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=295956"},"modified":"2018-12-24T08:48:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-24T16:48:29","slug":"ben-askren-updates-on-relationship-with-dana-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-updates-on-relationship-with-dana-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Askren updates on relationship with Dana White"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight titleholder Ben Askren has had some pretty heated exchanges with UFC President Dana White in the past. Now that Askren is a member of the UFC welterweight roster, however, many fans believed his relationship with the UFC boss might finally improve.<\/p>\n

Speaking to MMAjunkie<\/a> recently, Ben Askren updated on his relationship with Dana White. He admitted that there are still some lingering issues \u2014 though those issues could probably be patched up by a good, old-fashioned face-to-face conversation.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he and White haven’t had the chance for that yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Askren said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been able to do that so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201dHe\u2019s said nice things (in) the media, but that\u2019s also because I volunteered to do the dirty work,” he added. “I volunteered to switch and be the main event against Robbie (at UFC 233), Robbie said no. I volunteered to fight \u2018Marty from Nebraska\u2019 (Kamaru Usman), \u2018Marty\u2019 said no. I volunteered to fight dumb Colby (Covington). So he sees the value in what I\u2019m doing, so now he\u2019s being nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ben Askren, of course, it’s never been about being best buds with Dana White. He’s only interested in fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s whatever, though,” he said. “What has happened in the past doesn\u2019t just go away. Because of his position, he thinks that\u2019s how it goes. But listen, I\u2019m here to fight people in the cage, not be anyone\u2019s best friend. If we develop a friendship, that\u2019s fine. But I\u2019m here to fight people in the cage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Askren also addressed some of White’s previous claims about it him \u2014 namely that the former ONE and Bellator champ needed ‘more experience’ before migrating to the Octagon.<\/p>\n