History could be made shortly in MMA as the UFC is reportedly attempting to trade former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to One Championship for welterweight champion Ben Askren.
UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley thinks that a fellow UFC champion in Khabib Nurmagomedov wouldn’t stand a chance against Askren.
“Khabib is a ‘G’ but Khabib ain’t never fought nobody like Ben,” Woodley said to Damon Martin of MMA NYTT. “He never fought anybody like Ben, he ain’t never fought nobody like Michael Chandler. Those guys would wreck him on life. Chandler’s intensity is more, his striking is better. Ben doesn’t have the same intensity but his style is not one of intensity. His style is one of scrambling, one of static strength, one of consistency, pressure, and ground and pound is ridiculous, jiu-jitsu is ridiculous, wrestling is ridiculous. His ability to get in close and put himself into positions where he’s going to be successful is bar none some of the best I’ve ever seen.”
Nurmagomedov is currently 26-0-0 as a professional MMA fighter and the current UFC Lightweight Champion.
Another fighter who could potentially face Askren one day is former two division UFC champion Georges St. Pierre and Woodley believes GSP wouldn’t fare well against him.
“GSP would never stand a chance against Ben,” Woodley said. “Ben thrives against guys’ offensive onslaughts and GSP’s whole thing was always timing. If you ever see some video a long time ago, Ben Askren grappling against Jake Shields and I’m going to tell you this one thing — the highlights of the video were not on that video. Ben is just on a different level.”
St. Pierre is a former UFC Welterweight and Middleweight Champion, but has fought just once in the last four-plus years.
