Okay, what exactly do you think the issue was between the two, if not them not being able to agree to terms? Terms that Askren had very little leverage in negotiating.
The rejection was meant as an insult. nobody said anything about money, atleast not until Ben was exclusive to ONE and the whole “not my kinda guy” thing appeared petty to fans. They felt Bens allegedly boring style should be irrelevant when it comes to “the ultimate proving ground”. Dana White talked shit about Askren long before Ben became a free agent as well.
Dana met once with Ben and there was no contract offer. All Dana said out of that was “not my kinda guy” and there was no mention of money from either side.
Dana then said that Askren should fight for WSOF, a willing UFC feeder(and demotion from Bellator), to get better. Which revealed the motivation. To insult Ben and make Bellator seem like no more of a big league than any other promotion they scout prospects from..which is bullshit.
UFC was also at that time cutting top 10 WWs who they thought were boring but might win too many fights against guys they don’t find boring. Fitch and Shields. So, the guy Dana used to tweet ZzZ emojis about coming over(from Bellator) and likely dominating the majority of the WWs just on wrestling and control alone didn’t sound like too hot an idea..hence, the UFC ducked Ben Askren.
If Askren made any mistakes himself, it was that he acted like a shoo in(which he should’ve been) when he must’ve known how petty Dana White is in addition to the fact everybody already knew Dana didn’t like him.
The too much money bullshit is pure revision. Dana got killed online the day he ducked Askren for no other reason then “not my kinda guy”. Based on what we know, it was a pure duck.
Dana a couple months later, after Bens first ONE fight then started making it seem like Askren could’ve always been in the UFC but decided to go to ONE..which is garbage. Even then, negotiations or if there even was real negotiations weren’t mentioned. Only after being ducked by UFC and Bellator/Spike openly not wanting him to dominate their entertaining strikers any more..Ben then made a financially motivated decision to move to ONE rather than eat the insult of appearing in WSOF.
If we’re going to say he wanted too much money, I think it’s important to know “what’s too much”. Obviously if Dana expected 10/10 or else Funky is breaking his balls...that’s a duck. Also, it’s importantfor somebody, anybody to say that it had anything to do with it.
The verdict: UFC is guilty of ducking
