Like Francis Ngannou, Ben Askren had a war of words with UFC CEO Dana White.

Last week, White lashed out at Ngannou by criticizing his character and insisting he had avoided a fight with Jon Jones by choosing to sign with PFL. Askren identifies with Ngannou and talks about his previous experiences negotiating with the UFC.

Askren was close to signing with the UFC in 2013, but it never materialized. He was an undefeated Bellator welterweight champion who had defended his title four times and had his contract expire after a TKO victory over Andrey Koreshkov on July 31, 2013.

After White expressed interest in signing Askren, he changed his tune, which surprised Askren.

“Dana lied for years and said I didn’t want to fight the best, I didn’t want challenges, I was running away, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth,” Askren said on his “Funky and the Champ” show with Daniel Cormier. “So, it sucked having that guy – it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true. Dana has that part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in this case he didn’t offer me a contract, so he kind of got what he wanted.

“But I think because I continued to have success and people continued to follow me, he wanted to put me in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. But he did the same thing with Cyborg, I think Randy Couture had a similar experience, now Francis, but there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality that when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants, he just starts acting on the shitting people. And because he has a big microphone and is generally very honest and correct, people just believe him.”

Looking back, Askren wishes he could have signed with the UFC sooner.

“I wanted to fight the best in 2013 and in the future,” Askren continued. “And then he got me in 2019, when I probably should have had a hip replacement before, but he was like, ‘Hey, this is my chance, I’m going to take it.’ I don’t care if I’m not optimized where I should be. “I get an opportunity, I take an opportunity, and I’m not going to complain about it. “But yeah, I would have liked that in 2013.”