None other than company president Dana White recently welcomed the idea of Ben Askren's UFC signing. "Funky", however, responded to it with sarcasm.
The possiblity of Ben Askren's UFC signing was brought up during the UFC 177 post-fight media scrum held at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California. It was a possibility that White had actually accepted.
"I think if he keeps winning, he could get a shot over here," White told the media.
Askren and White had been involved in a brief exchange of words since late 2013. "Funky", for his part, admitted that he was disappointed about the UFC's sudden refusal to sign him. In November last year, the former Bellator FC champion flew to the UFC's Las Vegas office to attend a meeting, only to find out that he was not being signed.
To his utter disappointment, Ben Askren had left some stinging words for the UFC executive.
"In all honesty, I think if you put a 15-man tournament together, I think I could be the best fighter in the world right now," Askren said in an interview with MMA Junkie. "And now, I'm not going to get a chance to prove that because one bald-headed fat man chooses not to let me in."
But just this past weekend, Dana White seemed to have forgotten the friction involving Ben Askren's UFC signing and actually showed more openness to the idea.
"Listen, Ben Askren said a lot of stupid sh-t when he left, but I don't care about stuff like that," White said. "I could care less about any of that. We'll see how the kid fights, what he keeps doing, and we'll go from there. Contrary to popular belief - well, no, I do hold grudges if you're a real idiot. Yeah, I'll hold a grudge until the day I drop dead."
"If Tito (Ortiz) could come back to the UFC, anybody can come in here," he added. "Believe me, because there's nobody on earth I hated more than Tito. And Tito came back."
White's change of tune, however, was only met by a sarcastic tweet from the current ONE FC welterweight champion.
"Oh thank you master @danawhite can I please have a shot," Askren tweeted.
