Former Bellator MMA & One Championship Welterweight Champion Ben Askren retired in late 2017 after destroying Shinya Aoki in less than a minute.
UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz are arguably two of the biggest stars in MMA right now, but the retired Askren isn’t too fond of either. Askren recently took shots at both competitors, first calling Diaz a mediocre fighter.
“Nate Diaz sucks. I mean, yeah. [Conor] McGregor is barely the best in the world,” Askren said on MMA On Sirius XM. “I mean, the guy beat up Nate Diaz barely a couple of times and Nate Diaz himself is a very mediocre UFC fighter. There is no way you can argue that sentiment because all you have to do is look at [Diaz’s] record. The record shows he’s a very middle-of-the-road UFC fighter, he’s a 500 guy. He wins half, he loses half. Sure, he’s had some good wins, but he’s also had some terrible losses.”
Diaz and McGregor have fought each other twice in the UFC, with Diaz winning at UFC 196 and McGregor winning at UFC 202.
Askren is also critical of McGregor, especially since the lightweight champion has never defended any championship he has ever won.
“And you know McGregor, he lands a couple of good punches against Eddie Alvarez,” Askren said. “Is he good? Sure, but I’d like to see him defend his belt, he’s never defended his belt ever. But sure, if McGregor wanted to fight me – I don’t know, is he the best in the world? I guess since he’s got the belt. Sure, if he wanted to come up and fight me, that’d be fine. He knows that’s a terrible idea, I know that’s a terrible idea. He’s not gonna do it. Let’s just stick with the game plan and go with Georges [St-Pierre].”
The former Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion has had a rough past with the UFC and its president, but recently said he would come out of retirement to fight former UFC Welterweight & Middleweight Champion Georges St. Pierre.
