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Ben Askren relates to Francis Ngannou’s issues with Dana White: ‘I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me’
Ben Askren knows what Francis Ngannou is going through
Earlier this month, Ngannou made his PFL debut, knocking out Renan Ferreira at PFL Superfights: Battle of the Giants in his first MMA fight since leaving the UFC last year.
Ngannou’s return reignited discussion about his UFC exit, which in turn led UFC CEO Dana White to repeatedly bash his former heavyweight champion, saying Ngannou is “full of shit,” that left because he didn’t want to fight Jon Jones, and questioning Ngannou’s character. It was a full blown attack on Ngannou, one that Askren knows all too well.
“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his YouTube show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.
“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with [Cris] Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, obviously now Francis. If I thought really hard I could probably think of some other ones. But there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and because he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.
“So I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me that were very harmful to me, that he had no reason or basis for doing.”
Ben Askren knows what Francis Ngannou is going through
Earlier this month, Ngannou made his PFL debut, knocking out Renan Ferreira at PFL Superfights: Battle of the Giants in his first MMA fight since leaving the UFC last year.
Ngannou’s return reignited discussion about his UFC exit, which in turn led UFC CEO Dana White to repeatedly bash his former heavyweight champion, saying Ngannou is “full of shit,” that left because he didn’t want to fight Jon Jones, and questioning Ngannou’s character. It was a full blown attack on Ngannou, one that Askren knows all too well.
“Dana spent years lying, saying I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his YouTube show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked to have this guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.
“But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he’s done the same thing with [Cris] Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, obviously now Francis. If I thought really hard I could probably think of some other ones. But there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where, if he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and because he’s generally very truthful and generally correct, people just believe him.
“So I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me that were very harmful to me, that he had no reason or basis for doing.”
