{"id":306745,"date":"2019-03-22T11:40:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T18:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=306745"},"modified":"2019-03-22T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T18:41:00","slug":"anthony-pettis-explains-why-he-wont-fight-ben-askren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-pettis-explains-why-he-wont-fight-ben-askren\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Pettis explains why he won’t fight Ben Askren"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis is set to debut in the welterweight division tomorrow night, as he’s scheduled to battle Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of UFC Nashville on ESPN+.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Pettis can spring the upset on Wonderboy, it will open the door to dozens of exciting matchups in the stacked UFC welterweight division. One matchup that seems to be off the table for Pettis, however, is a pairing with fellow Roufusport talent Ben Askren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pettis says he’ll save himself the embarrassment of fighting the undefeated wrestling specialist. He’s done plenty of rounds with Askren in the gym, and knows just how tough he is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would never fight Ben Askren, I\u2019d save myself the embarrassment,\u201d Pettis said (via MMA Junkie<\/a>). \u201cThat dude is a (expletive) monster. (He\u2019s) the type of guy that, you can never count him out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spinning-back kicked him one time, right in the chin, I could tell he was hurt, he double legs me, gets on top, and just starts grinding me out. He\u2019s one of them tough, deep-down guys. He\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Anthony Pettis, tomorrow night’s UFC Nashville scrap with the former welterweight title challenger Wonderboy marks the opportunity for a fresh start in a new division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his last fight, which occurred in the lightweight division, he was defeated by Tony Ferguson \u2014 although he gave the streaking lightweight contender a better fight than any of his other recent opponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Pettis weighed in at 171 pounds this morning<\/a>, he’s fought as light as the featherweight division in the past. Who do you want to see him fight if he gets by Wonderboy this weekend? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared on <\/em>BJPENN.COM<\/em><\/a> on 3\/22\/2019. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis is set to debut in the welterweight division tomorrow night, as he’s scheduled to battle Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the main event of UFC Nashville on ESPN+. If Pettis can spring the upset on Wonderboy, it will open the door to dozens of exciting matchups in the stacked UFC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":280774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10206,10184,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnthony Pettis explains why he won't fight Ben Askren | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anthony Pettis explains why we'll never see him in the cage with new UFC welterweight contender "Funky" Ben Askren.\" \/>\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\/anthony-pettis-explains-why-he-wont-fight-ben-askren\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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