Ben Askren Says He Would Accept A Welterweight Title Shot Only With Woodley's Blessing

The Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight division experienced a major shakeup last weekend with Kamaru Usman’s emphatic win over Tyron Woodley for the UFC welterweight title, as well as Ben Askren’s debut win over former champion Robbie Lawler.

Woodley had ruled the division for close to three years since he knocked out Lawler back at UFC 201 in July 2016. Woodley’s team mate and friend, Askren, immediately catapulted himself into title contention with his controversial submission victory over Lawler. Askren said during an appearance on “The MMA Hour” that if he were to be offered a title shot, he wouldn’t accept it without “The Chosen One’s” blessing (via MMA Fighting):

“I thought Colby and ‘Marty’ was announced [Saturday] night,” Askren said, calling Usman by his old nickname. “Look, listen, if Colby gets screwed again, I’ve got no issue with that. Colby is a jabroni. This was a path that I haven’t even gone down, because I didn’t really see a scenario where Tyron lost to Marty.

“So I hadn’t even started thinking this way. And now that he’s calling me out, I probably have to talk to Tyron a little bit and see where we go from there.”

Askren then reaffirmed that he’d speak to Woodley before officially accepting any offer:

“Yeah, I would consult Tyron first,” Askren said. “But as long as he kind of gave his blessing, yeah. Of course.”