Ben Askren puts ‘hypocrite’ Kamaru Usman on blast: Stop trying to avoid me

Ben Askren will make his highly anticipated Octagon debut against Robbie Lawler at UFC 233 but, according to ‘Funky’ himself, the former ONE FC and Bellator welterweight champion is more interested in a matchup with Kamaru Usman.

Usman recently called out Colby Covington after his dominant win over Rafael dos Anjos at The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale, but Askren believes ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is looking for the easy fight.

In a recent Instagram post, Askren accused Usman of avoiding a fight with him and being a hypocrite. The 34-year-old also took a dig at Covington, calling the interim welterweight champion a ‘scared little b-tch.’

“Mr. Usman, we find ourselves in a situation where you are looking like quite the hypocrite,” Askren said on Instagram (h/t Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “As we all know, Mr. Tyron Woodley is injured, can’t fight Colby. We know you want to fight Colby. We know Colby’s a scared little b*tch, and that’s fine. But I have made my services available to you for a fight on January 26 and now you’re trying to play the same game as Colby is. Colby’s ignoring you, now you’re ignoring me.”

Askren didn’t let up, blasting Usman’s social media following and telling the top welterweight contender to come out of the shadows and show his face at UFC 233.

“Listen, I know you hear me because you have a measly little 30,000 Twitter followers, a tiny amount of the social media following that I do,” Askren said. “I know you hear me, Marty, so make sure you respond to this. Don’t be a hypocrite, don’t be a little b*tch like Colby. I’ll be there, January 26. I hope you’re there also.”

UFC 233, which features Askren vs. Lawler as the co-main event, takes place next month, Jan. 26 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The pay-per-view is still without a main event, and head president Dana White is trying to book a top contender’s bout between Covington and Usman.