Ben Askren Thinks MMA Fans Hate CM Punk Because They’re Jealous
Ex-Bellator MMA champion and reigning ONE Championship titleholder Ben Askren is a training partner of one CM Punk and understands why Punk is taking his time while preparing for his first-ever MMA fight. Askren said that Punk has every intention of fighting in the UFC and doesn’t believe that Punk is doing this as a publicity stunt.
“If he’s not gonna fight, he fooled me,” said Askren. “I’ve heard that, and people have asked me that. He’s in the gym all the time, and he’s training all the time, so that would sure be a lot of effort to put into a publicity stunt. You’d think if it was a publicity stunt he’d maybe show up once a week or once a month. For a while before he was injured, he was in there twice a day, every day.”
Since the UFC announced back in December that CM Punk would be joining the UFC, everyone from fans, fighters and media members have made their opinion clear about him going from the squared circle to the world famous Octagon.
Askren would speculate that Punk gets angry with fans because they might be jealous of him and the situation he’s in currently.
“Maybe jealousy,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “I would guess that’s a pretty good answer. He’s been famous, he’s made a lot of money, he’s got a hot wife. There’s a lot of things about him that people would probably be jealous of. I would guess that’s it.”
“The point was never really directed at him,” Askren said. “”It was more Dana White, because at that point in time the reason he was trying to express to the fans why he didn’t sign me, which was untrue, was that I didn’t have enough experience. You tell a guy who’s an Olympian and is 12-0 and ranked top-10 in the world in mixed martial arts he doesn’t have enough experience to compete in the UFC, and then you turn around and sign a guy who’s never fought before, well you just contradicted yourself.”
Punk has gone on record by saying he would be fighting sometime in 2016. There’s still no word on who he may be fighting in his UFC debut.
Askren defended the title against Luis Santos at ONE Championship 26 on April 24 and was successful. Now, the two will meet again on November 13th.
