Why do people say Ben Askren 'has only beat nobodies'?

His last 5 wins-

Andrey Koreshkov (13-1):

• Beat Lyman Good.
• Finished Marius Zaromskis.
• Beat Jordan Smith.

Karl Amoussou (16-6-2):

• Submitted Bryan Baker.
• Beat David Rickels.
• Submitted Chris Lozano.
• Knocked out Kazuhiro Nakamura.
• Submitted Alex Yakovlev.

Douglas Lima  (25-5):

• Knocked out Ben Saunders x2.
• Knocked out Bryan Baker.
• Finished Michail Tsarev.
• Knocked out Chris Lozano.
• Finished Ryan Ford.
• Beat Steve Carl.
• Beat Clint Hester.

Jay Hieron (23-7):

• Beat Rick Hawn.
• Beat Brent Weedman.
• Beat Jesse Taylor.
• Beat Joe Riggs.
• Knocked out Jason High.
• Beat Jake Ellenberger.
• Beat Pat Healy.

Nick Thompson (38-14-1):

• Knocked out Eddie Alvarez.
• Beat Paul Daley.
• Submitted Ansar Chalangov.
• Submitted Chris Wilson.
• Beat Keith Wisniewski.
• Submitted Josh Neer.
• Beat Brian Gassaway.
• His losses are for the most part are all to LEGIT competition.

It seems like the only argument for why Askren 'sucks' is because he has beaten "nobodies".. why is this a thing when it so clearly not true?

* Edited at 12.11.2013, 12:25 PM ET *

Dana White is an ass for all the "Askren barely beat Heiron" stuff, he knew that would rile up his minions. I don't see a lot of people saying Askren "has only beat nobodies", though, except a few on Sherdog. YOU watch a lot of MMA, and YOU know that a guy like Douglas Lima is world class and could do well in any organization in the world, but good luck convincing others who won't take the time to watch a competing organization. 

cos he pretty much has if you only follow the ufc .
bens pretty good but i think its the fact he talks about himself like he is the 2ndcoming when yes he is good but pretty untested at ufc level.
 its like when he says he is better than gsp when gsp does what he does and makes it look amazing .

but id like too see him in the ufc ASAP

3 of the above never fought in the UFC and of the two that did, Hieron is 0-4 and Thompson is 1-1, so of course they must all be nobodies.

plus he is a bellator fighter and dana has a hatred towards all things bellator

Biggest free agent ever and dana passed = biggest mistake dana has made in regards to signing a fighter ever.

Dana doesn't want to bring in another Jake Shields type. He is trying to cleanse the UFC of high paid grinders.

Brocop if that is what dana is doing, then he will be the hitler to mma.

@trevpicks Right, the biggest free agent ever that was passed on by Dana White was Ben Askren, not Fedor ******* EMELIANENKO.

Fedor refused dana, so yes Bernard.

Again ben is the biggest free agent that dana passed on not fedor to clarify for anik type people.

I can totally agree with that. I believe it is ******** to the highest degree. What if back in 1993-1994 people got fed up with Royce Gracie fighting the way he did? The sport never would have progressed to what it is today and there is probably a 90% chance that BJJ wouldn't have near the presence it does in North America as it does today.

If what Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Yushin Okami and Ben Askren do is so damn boring then maybe you should sign more fighters that are well rounded enough to stop there takedowns and ground game. Not fire a guy like Jacob Volkmann or Jon Fitch for coming off of a loss against top tier competition. It's a slap in the face to the fighters who have spent there entire lives honing and sharpening there skills just to be told by someone who will never strap on a pair of gloves that they aren't UFC caliber fighters.

* Edited at 12.11.2013, 1:38 PM ET *

I think Dana is afraid that he will go to decisions every time.  

It has been pretty well established that passing on Askren was more of a slight aimed at Bellator than at Ben. It is showing fighters considering signing with bellator that even if you are the best guy to come out of the promotion, the UFC isn't interested in you. That coupled with Bellators slightly shady contract decisions may very well serve to diminish bellator in the near future, or atleast that is what Dana is hoping. Best case for the UFC, Bellator suffers a serious talent shortage and begins to slowly die. Worst case, nothing changes with bellator and the UFC missed a chance at a pretty good fighter that is untested in UFC level competition, but they can snag him in a couple years for a little more $.

Do we even know what Bens' s asking Price was? Was he asking Eddie Alvarez money? Because if he was is he really worth it with his best win being Doug Lima. Bellator passed on his asking price, UFC obviously passed. Ben got One FC to pay him something, doubt it was what he was aksing from the UFC though. I would like to see Ben in the UFC to see what he can do against fighters who can stop the TD and have KO power in one package. UFC is a business and Ben isn't exactly going to put buts in the seats....

Of course UFC is trying to break into the Chinese market. Ben joined the evolve fight team and is going to build a name in One FC. If UFC is still working on that market in 2 years Ben becoming a draw there could help.

@Bigj383 It's obvious that the issue isn't about money, I think you completely missed the point.

HOWEVER, that last part of your post is ingenious, I didn't even think about that. That's an excellent point and maybe Askren does know what he's doing.

Am I the only one that notice how badly Taco is skewing the facts here? 

Nick Thomson really? Dude was on 3 fight TKO losing streak before he fought Askren. He bring up victories of Nicks like Josh Kneer which took place 6 years earlier before Josh was even a ranked fight and Alvarez who is a light weight and the fight was 4 years ago. 


Karl Amoussou really? Taco brings up Karl beating people like David Rockels who a light weight and not even a top 40 ranked light weight at that. He also brings up Karl victories against Chris Lozeano/Jesus Martinez who are both utter cans and if you don't believe me take a look at there records in particular Martinez.  Karl best win is Ryan Baker who at best a top 40 welter weight and not very good fighter. He wins mostly through using superior size/strength. Baker best win coming against an over the hill Jeremy Horn. Then to top it off Karl got beat in his next fight after facing askren by a nobody can named Paul Bradly who if he was lucky would be ranked top 50, but even that is a stretch.


This is just quick break down of two of the opponents of Askren you skewed to seem more impressive then they are. I can do a break down of each of them if need be, but there not impressive opponents. Askren fought only one UFC Caliber fighter and that was Jay Herion. The other guys he fought would last  a fight or two in the UFC before getting cut. However you are skewing it to make them seem like legitment competition when they are not.


Ben Askren could very well be top 10 material, however he only beaten a single UFC caliber opponent. I feel like the majority of people seem unwilling to acknowledge this. Askren I believe very well could be top 10,  but that just are opinions, he yet to prove it. So Taco, people are not saying he fights nobodies, they mean he been only dominantly beating a bunch of fighters who are not UFC caliber which is true. When people do say he beats nobodies it typically in response to people like you trying to pretend Askren been dominantly beating legit UFC level competition. Which is simply false. 

* Edited at 12.12.2013, 1:20 PM ET *

I never once said that these guys are top 10 fighters.. My point was that you cant call them 'nobodies'.. You sir, are just misinterpreting what I said ... even though I simply say that they aren't 'nobodies'.

No, I understand what your saying perfectly and you skewering your arguement.

I never said you called them top 10. Your implying there legit competition when there not. There not UFC level, and I am not talking about top 10, and if you read my post you would know this.  There not good enough to even be in the UFC. There all subpar competition. When people say nobodies they mean just that, there not known by the general public, there sub par competition and are not good enough to fight in the major organization which is the UFC for more then a fight or two.

* Edited at 12.12.2013, 1:39 PM ET *

Not legit competition? They are for the most part the top WW's outside of the UFC other than the 4 in WSOF. Who is Ben supposed to fight?

yes there not legit (I mean all fighters are legit don't get me wrong, i mean in context of UFC caliber fighters). These guys can't hang in the UFC welter Weight division at all, out side of Herion.

I am not blaming Ben for the level competition he has fought. It not like he gets to choose. However that does not mean we should disregard the fact he has been fighting subpar competition and people referring to them as nobodies really is not far from the mark. Also people should take his level pf competition into consideration when ranking him in the top 10, he done nothing to prove he is top 10. I personally think he might be since his wrestling is just so dam good, but he really has not proven it.  A lot of UFC fighters could have run through the guys he ran through and I am not even talking about the UFC top 10.

* Edited at 12.12.2013, 1:57 PM ET *