"Had you rag-dolled Jorge Masvidal, you would've had a title shot in your third fight too Ben" - Fans sound off after Ben Askren calls Alex Pereira's quick path to title shot 'insane for modern era'

Alex Pereira (left), Jorge Masvidal (center), and Ben Askren (right) [Images Courtesy: @alexpoatanpereira, @gamebredfighter, and @benaskren on Instagram]

Ben Askren recently discussed the Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira fight announcement, and some fans found his commentary curious. Talking on his personal Twitter account about the next UFC middleweight world title fight, Askren said:

"def the right fight to make but crazy how fast Pereira got to a title fight. Insane for modern era"

🤯🤯🤯 def the right fight to make but crazy how fast Pereira got to a title fight. Insane for modern era twitter.com/MMAFighting/st…

Fans responded in large numbers to Askren's post.

Some thought it was ironic for someone like Ben Askren to describe Pereira's rise this way. This was articulated by Twitter user @Ganje21:

"had you rag dolled masvidal like you were supposed to you woulda had a title shot in your third fight too Ben"

@Benaskren had you rag dolled masvidal like you were supposed to you woulda had a title shot in your third fight too Ben

@Blowkonijn1 drew comparisons to a big-name lightweight contender who fought for UFC gold in his sophomore octagon outing:

"Pereira actually had to fight 2 unranked guys before and then beat the number 4, chandler fought number 6 and got a title shot"

@Benaskren Pereira actually had to fight 2 unranked guys before and then beat the number 4, chandler fought number 6 and got a title shot

Twitter user @LosFyl feels the booking isn't the most merit-based.

@Benaskren It's actually not fair to the other fighters but I guess the fact he already beat adesanya has match makers rubbing their hands together like birdman 😂 he has only beat one top 10 fighter and it was Sean Strickland one of the least talented in the division 😂

@PeteKardiachain seems to think it's only a matter of time before Pereira takes a loss.

@Benaskren Gotta milk him before he’s exposed

Ben Askren's pursuit of a third welterweight belt

Ben Askren captured the 170-pound world title in Bellator MMA when he bested Lyman Good via unanimous decision at Bellator 33 in October 2010. Askren would defend the belt successfully against Jay Hieron, Douglas Lima, Karl Amoussou, and Andrey Koreshkov.

Watch the short highlights of Askren vs. Lima below (2:13):

'Funky' was also the welterweight titleholder when he fought for ONE Championship. He captured the belt during his second fight with the company.

Askren won gold over Nobutatsu Suzuki in less than a minute-and-a-half with a torrent of ground and pound at ONE FC 19 in August 2014. He would defend his ONE strap successfully against Agilan Thani, Zebaztian Kadestam, and Shinya Aoki. The American would then retire for a period of time after going 18-0 with one no-contest.

Ben Askren transitioned to the UFC after a trade between UFC and ONE Championship that saw 'Funky' and Demetrious Johnson switch promotions. After a first-round bulldog choke win over former UFC champion Robbie Lawler, Askren seemed poised for a UFC title shot.

Alas, he would lose consecutive outings to Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia before hanging up his MMA gloves and retiring for a second time.