"What's up with this dude?" - Ben Askren explains why he's not a fan of Israel Adesanya's questionable character
While speaking about his newly released book during a recent interview on Submission Radio, Ben Askren disagreed with the host's views on Israel Adesanya, revealing his dislike for a lot of the things the UFC middleweight champion does.
The NCAA Division I wrestler left the sport of MMA behind following back-to-back losses to Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia. Considered the best welterweight in the world at one point in his career, the now-38-year-old suffered from years of wear and tear during his UFC run, ultimately forcing him to retire.
Whilst discussing Israel Adesanya, Ben Askren gave multiple examples of why he isn't the biggest fan of the Nigerian-New Zealander. He believes some of the middleweight champion's actions are questionable:
"The one thing about Israel is like, he caught on to a certain extent, for example, his walkouts were tremendous, but some of the things he said, are like, dude, what's up with this dude?... I feel like he said kind of a lot of homoerotic things almost, where he humps Paulo Costa for example. People are like, 'Wait. Why's he humping him? This is strange.' ... In the post-fight speech [after his Yoel Romero fight], I think he could have just been like, 'Hey, man. This dude is super dangerous.' ... But instead, he was like, 'I fu**ed his leg up.' ... We all saw what just happened."
'Funky' did go on to say that anybody as popular as Adesanya who is constantly in the public eye will have moments where they say something they shouldn't or make mistakes once in a while.
Check out everything Ben Askren had to say on 'The Last Stylebender' in the video below:
Israel Adesanya's controversial moments in MMA
Since making the jump over to the UFC, Israel Adesanya has been in the spotlight. That's not just for his incredible striking, but also for some controversial actions and words on the mic.
One of his most problematic moments was when he made an unflattering comment towards his opponent while referencing the tragic attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The controversy of the comment, which was quite obviously not well received, still surrounds him years later.
Adesanya is arguably not known for his mic skills, and though much less worrying, his "Frozen like Elsa" line directed towards Alex Pereira remains an iconic one amongst the MMA community for all the wrong reasons.