Former One Championship Welterweight Champion Ben Askren retired in 2017 after defending the gold against Shinya Aoki.
Askren would return to action for a bout against former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, a bout he believes will happen sometime next year.
“My main motivation is to prove I’m No. 1 in the world,” Askren said to MMA Junkie Radio. “I think it will happen, at the Bell Centre (in Montreal). Me vs. ‘GSP,’ probably somewhere in late 2019. I don’t need to make any more money from fighting, and there’s only one thing left to prove. I’ve been No. 1 for the past five years, and I’ve unfortunately never had the chance to prove that fight. It’s the one thing that interests me.”
GSP just returned to action himself after a four-plus year layoff at UFC 217, defeating Michael Bisping to win the UFC Middleweight Title.
St. Pierre is under contract to the UFC at the moment and Askren doesn’t exactly have the best relationship with that promotion.
“(My first UFC negotiation) was so dirty, it left such a bad taste in my mouth,” Askren said. “I already didn’t want to talk to Dana. I don’t trust a damn word that comes out of his mouth. I don’t trust a word. It’s like, why did I never pursue that again? Well, it’s because the first time I got screwed over – it was just about as dirty a deal as anyone could give you. I don’t want to have that discussion again. I don’t trust them one bit.”
The longtime UFC fighter is currently on the shelf battling ulcerative colitis and it is unknown just when he may return to action.
