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Say what you will about Ben “Funky” Askren, the former Bellator-turned-ONE FC Welterweight Champion pulls no punches in either his fights or interviews. The undefeated 170 pounder has grown increasingly comfortable and even bold in front of the camera, providing an unexpected foil for the irascible and ever-quotable Dana White. The notion that the wrestling-oriented, decision victory-inclined Askren would become somewhat of a media lighting rod whenever he spoke would have seemed preposterous a year ago. But the public handling of Askren’s potential move to the UFC and his eventual signing with ONE FC has given Funky an unexpected public platform for one of the very few elite MMA fighters not on the UFC payroll.
The decision by White and the UFC to not sign the former University of Missouri Tiger may have done Askren and the sport of MMA a tremendous favor. For Askren’s part, he has received an opportunity to dominate yet another MMA promotion while making a comfortable living (compared to the pay of many UFC fighters, especially), and increase his value should the UFC look to sign him again. For the sake of the sport itself, the dominant welterweight has provided an even greater boon: a top tier mixed martial artists who can safely challenge Dana White on topics UFC fighters are rarely able to.
This willingness of Askren to take on White publicly has been building over the past year, and has taken an unusual turn after the ONE FC champion’s recent interview with Bas Rutten and Kenny Rice on AXS TV. Askren let his feelings regarding White’s leadership be known in no uncertain terms. Rice responded by inexplicably cutting off the former All American mid-interview and lambasting his comments. Although an interviewer not necessarily handling his subject with kid gloves is always welcome, Rice may have inadvertently helped turned Askren into a sort of MMA folk hero for those unhappy with the direction the UFC seems to be headed as of late. As anyone who has spent a fair amount of time on the Internet ought to know, the harsher you try to silence a topic, the more attention that topic tends to receive. The seemingly unprofessional manner (which Rice's boss did not approve of) in which Rice did so is likely to add more fuel to the proverbial fire and gain Askren new fans.
The days when the sport of MMA seemed to constantly teeter on the edge of either illegality or obscurity or both are long over. MMA is here to stay, and that is due in no small part to the hard work of Dana White and UFC. However, the game has entered a new phase of its existence, one where sheer survival is no longer the chief concern. Instead, focus has shifted towards the long-term well being of those people upon whose shoulders the sport has been built: the fighters and the fans. Whether the well being of either (fighter pay and card quality being respective issues) can be improved under White remains to be seen, but Ben “Funky” Askren and his willingness to stand up to the UFC might be just what the doctor ordered.