Former Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion Ben Askren was recently called out by both Dillon Danis and current Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion Rory MacDonald.
Scott Coker is the Bellator MMA President and he would love to put those fights together, but the promotion head doesn’t think the retired Askren wants to fight anymore.
“Ben, I don’t really think wants to fight,” Coker said at a Bellator 198 post-fight press conference. “I think he wants to fight one more fight and be done with it. That’s what I understand.”
Askren retired this past November after defeating Shinya Aoki by first round TKO at One Championship: Immortal Pursuit.
Coker isn’t focused on Askren much anyway because he says the welterweight division is going to see a lot of activity in the future.
“To me, we have a lot of plans for these guys in the 170-pound weight class,” he said. “We’re going to keep everybody busy. We’ve got a big fight for (Michael Page) coming up in London. We’ve got a big fight for (Jon) Fitch and (Paul) Daley in San Jose on May 12. We’re going to keep these guys busy. I want fighters that are going to be here fighting.”
If Askren were to return to Bellator MMA down the line, it would mark his first fight in the promotion since defeating Andrey Koreshkov by fourth round TKO at Bellator 97.
