Ben Askren wants Darren Till, Promises to 'Beat His Ass, Make Him a Grown Man'

Ben Askren may not be a household name with casual fans yet, but that may change shortly, as the undefeated wrestler is on his way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship while his counterpart Demetrious Johnson heads to Askren’s old promotion, One Championship.

Askren (18-0, 1 N/C) has been completely dominant during a career that has seen him capture both the One and the Bellator MMA welterweight titles, defeating such notables as Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov along the way. Considered for years by many fans to be the best welterweight outside of the UFC, his presence in the world’s premier organization creates a wealth of potential matchups.

While UFC President Dana White has said Askren will get a top-five opponent in his first fight, Askren seems to have a particular one in mind: Darren Till, who recently came off a one-sided loss to welterweight king Tyron Woodley. Woodley and Askren are former college teammates at the University of Missouri as well as longtime training partners.

Since his swap to the UFC, Askren has targeted Till on Twitter in an interesting war of words:

Who the fuck are you ? I’ve had one loss don’t be thinking your gonna come over here and ruin everyone, trust me I would knock the curly hair out your head you hillbilly. https://t.co/ba9IvXu92t

— Darren Till (@darrentill2) October 25, 2018

Askren made a recent appearance on MMA Junkie Radio and said he’d like to slap Till around in the Octagon and teach him some respect.

“You know who I think sounds like an easy target – and I’m kind of picking him out because he sucks? It’s Darren Till,” Askren said. “And I don’t really like him, either. So it makes it really easy that I don’t like him – I’d like to beat him up. I think he sucks, so it’d be an easy fight. He’s ranked very highly, obviously. It’s like the kind of kid that needs to be taught a lesson. So I’m going to be like his good older brother. I’m going to take him in there, I’m going to hold him down, I’m going to slap him around. And then when no one’s listening, I’ll probably tell him, like, ‘You need to be a little more humble. You need to be a little bit more respectful. You need to take care of your kid that you abandoned.’ Beat his ass, make him a grown man.”