Ben Askren on Colby Covington’s Self-Imposed Exile: ‘He’s Got No Skills, He’s Gotta Fight’

As Ben Askren prepares to make his highly-anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship debut this weekend, he was more than willing to weigh in on Colby Covington, the man who bade him such an unfriendly welcome in the wake of his signing.

Former One Championship and Bellator MMA welterweight champion Askren faces former welterweight champ Robbie Lawler at UFC 235 in Las Vegas this Saturday. Askren signed with the UFC in October as part of a “trade” that sent former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to One Championship. Covington, then the interim champ, promptly fired off a series of tweets impugning Askren’s fighting style and drawing power.

Covington is also currently in conflict with the UFC for denying him a title fight against Woodley despite securing the interim welterweight title with his win over Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 in June last year. “Chaos” has threatened legal action against the UFC and said his fighting days may be over although Askren said Monday at a media lunch that he doesn’t believe he’ll go through with it (transcription via MMAFighting.com).

“Colby’s got no skills,” Askren said. “He’s gotta fight. If he doesn’t fight, I don’t think one person in the whole world will shed a tear. Like, thank God that era is over. I think the UFC made it more than it was, because if you look at any of his social media he doesn’t have that many followers. There was never that much of a ‘We want to see Colby!’ It just wasn’t there. It was staged.”

Covington was meant to fight Woodley late last year but opted to undergo nasal surgery instead, prompting the UFC to strip Covington of his interim title and give the title shot to Darren Till in a fight in which Woodley ended up dominating.

Woodley was again set to defend his belt against Covington this year but apparently the outspoken 31-year-old played hardball and the promotion decided to hand Usman -- who had already done the UFC a perceived favor by weighing in as a backup for the Woodley-Till fight -- his opportunity.

“Colby was too dumb,” Askren said. “He thought the promoter was his friend. He thought, ‘Hey, he’s my buddy, he’s gonna do everything good for me. He’s gonna take care of me.’ … He looks so dumb and he continues to look dumb.”

While Askren dislikes Covington, he doesn’t think he’ll be fighting him anytime soon, as he believes “Chaos” is a shoo-in to fight Woodley next if Woodley successfully defends his title against Usman this weekend.

“I think that’s the obvious next fight for Tyron,” Askren said. “It’s an easy one, too. Who doesn’t like easy money?”