{"id":300634,"date":"2019-02-05T09:43:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T17:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=300634"},"modified":"2019-02-05T09:43:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T17:43:27","slug":"ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At the UFC 235 press conference, former ONE and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren divulged that he and top welterweight contender Kamaru Usman very nearly came to blows backstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Days after the press conference wrapped up, Will Harris of Anatomy of a Fighter released footage of this backstage confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/TheeWillHarris\/status\/1092118103956353024\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking on Ariel Helwani&#8217;s MMA Show on Monday, Ben Askren burned Kamaru Usman \u2014 who he calls &#8220;Marty&#8221; \u2014 in a fiery rant, criticizing the upcoming welterweight title challenger for confronting him backstage and for releasing video of the encounter after the fact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCan you believe Marty put this video out?\u201d Askren said (transcript via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2019\/2\/5\/18211792\/ben-askren-continues-feud-kamaru-usman-im-so-far-under-his-skin-and-in-his-head-its-not-even-funny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"MMA Fighting (opens in a new tab)\">MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cThis video makes him look like a dumb-dumb and it was his camera person that put it out! He is bragging about this and this is what I can\u2019t stand about fighters. Listen, we get that you\u2019re tough. You fight in a cage. I understand that perfectly, but he has to come up to me, [when] you know nothing is going to happen back there, Marty! Why are you getting in my face? You know you\u2019re not gonna risk your main event shot by punching me in the back hallway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGive me a freaking break. I couldn\u2019t fathom why he was trying to act so tough and what he was trying to do or get out of the situation. If it was intimidation, that\u2019s freakin\u2019 laughable. . . Look at his skinny jeans! You can\u2019t be acting tough when you\u2019re in white skinny jeans and a scarf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe wasn\u2019t gonna do nothing because that\u2019s not who he is. He wants to act like he\u2019s this crazy, insane tough guy but I knew him from before and he\u2019s not. He\u2019s smart, he\u2019s reasonable and for whatever reason this is the persona that he wants to play, that\u2019s he\u2019s this tough, crazy guy who will fight anyone at anytime. It\u2019s just silly and ridiculous. At no point was he ever threatening me.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Needless to say, Ben Askren feels that he&#8217;s under his rival&#8217;s skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am under your skin so bad that I say one thing &#8211; I said, \u2018Am I sitting next to Marty?\u2019 and he got all pissed,\u201d Askren said. \u201cAnd the funny thing is, he\u2019s not even like, \u2018Marty\u2019s not my name, don\u2019t call me Marty.\u2019 . . He\u2019s not even denying that Marty is his name so I don\u2019t even know what he\u2019s mad about! What is he mad about? I\u2019m so far under his skin and so far in his head it\u2019s not even funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><em>BJPENN.COM<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0on 2\/5\/2019.<\/em><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the UFC 235 press conference, former ONE and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren divulged that he and top welterweight contender Kamaru Usman very nearly came to blows backstage. Days after the press conference wrapped up, Will Harris of Anatomy of a Fighter released footage of this backstage confrontation. Speaking on Ariel Helwani&#8217;s MMA Show [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":286198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10184,10616,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the UFC 235 press conference, former ONE and Bellator welterweight champ Ben Askren divulged that he and top welterweight contender Kamaru Usman very nearly came to blows backstage. Days after the press conference wrapped up, Will Harris of Anatomy of a Fighter released footage of this backstage confrontation. Speaking on Ariel Helwani&#8217;s MMA Show [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-05T17:43:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-05T17:43:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ben-Askren.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-05T17:43:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-05T17:43:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\"},\"wordCount\":462,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Ben Askren\",\"Kamaru Usman\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\",\"name\":\"Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-05T17:43:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-05T17:43:27+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ben-askren-rips-kamaru-usman-after-backstage-confrontation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Ben Askren rips Kamaru Usman after backstage confrontation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; 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