Duke Roufus believes Ben Askren will fight for the UFC: I see it happening

It has been a few months since the latest chapter of the Ben Askren - Dana White saga was written. Neither the UFC boss, nor the undefeated champion have seen eye to eye during their various quarrels, thus leading one to assume that Askren's window of opportunity to head to the UFC was quickly closing.

Askren had one meeting with UFC officials before signing with One FC; it achieved very little and ended with White suggesting he should go "fight on "f***ing Pluto." While Dana later retracted his statement and said that he would consider signing Askren, the then-One FC competitor went on The MMA Hour to offer a characteristic response to White.

"My initial feeling is like, ‘so what?'" Askren confidently shrugged. "It's kind of like all of us had that time in high school when we were bullied by the cool group of kids. Then we did something, then the cool group said ‘oh my god, can you be part of our group?' Then some of us who didn't have low self-esteem said 'well, you didn't want me the first time, I'm alright.' Then some other people, they run, ‘the cool kids want to hang out with me? Yes, please.' I think it's kind of one of those things."

While that sort of response would signal Askren's disinterest in joining the UFC ranks, his head coach at Roufusport, Duke Roufus, believes his student will likely have a change of heart in the future.

"I see it happening," Roufus told MMAFighitng.com at a media lunch.

An initial concern with Askren's style was that he was not aggressive enough as a fighter and was comfortable winning decisions with his wrestling pedigree. As a former NCAA champion at the University of Missouri, he is a threat to any competitor in the welterweight division but simply lacked the finishes to make him an exciting fighter to watch.

That would soon change, as Askren signed with One FC and quickly went 2-0 - both wins via stoppage. According to Roufus, this is a sign that Askren is more than capable of becoming an elite striker, which is why he badly wants to see Askren in the UFC.

"Ben, he's a very proud guy," Roufus said. "I'm hoping and pray. I think [it would] just be for the greater good of the sport, what the UFC has always done."