One Call! Askren Ready For UFC 300 Rematch Vs. Masvidal

Jorge Masvidal appears to be back, which could potentially lead to the return of one of his most bitter rivals.

“Gamebred” took to Twitter on New Year’s Day (Mon., Jan. 2024) to post “unretired” without any further details. Therefore, the speculation on possibilities for a short-lived less than one-year-old Masvidal comeback is all over the place.

Enter Masvidal’s second-to-last opponent whom he defeated, Ben Askren. The pair squared off in the shortest Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in promotional history at UFC 239 in July 2019, resulting in a five-second flying knee knockout win for Masvidal. He’d go 1-4 in his five bouts that followed with the four losses coming consecutively to close out his career with a Gilbert Burns unanimous decision loss at UFC 287 in April 2023. Askren has fought twice since then when he lost by third round rear-naked choke against Demian Maia and retired from mixed martial arts (MMA). The “Funky” former Bellator and ONE Championship Welterweight champion then made his professional boxing debut in a losing effort against Jake Paul, where he suffered a first round knockout loss (watch highlights). He’s since stated he’ll only return to active competition for a Masvidal rematch and should things align for UFC 300 in April 2024, Askren is fully on board.

“If [UFC CEO] Dana [White] called me and said, ‘Ben, Jorge Masvidal, UFC 300, International [Fight Week],’ I don’t give a damn,” Askren said on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel (h/t MiddleEasy). “I’m out of retirement. I’ll fight him. I don’t care.

“I want to fight this guy… but he’ll never say yes to that unless maybe he loses some more money or something,” he continued. “It would be great. I would love to. But you know what? It’s one of those things kinda like what you said about Michael [Chandler]. It’s like, I don’t want to be begging and groveling for it.

“I mean, it’s unlikely to happen,” Askren concluded. “If someone calls me and says it’s gonna happen, okay, I’m there. If they don’t, I’m just going to live my life.”

When rumblings between the two getting back in an enclosure together began in 2023, Masvidal originally was open to the idea … if it was in boxing. However, Askren quickly shut that down and still has no interest in getting back in the ring even if for a Masvidal rematch.

“Yeah [only in MMA],” Askren said. “I suck at boxing. You guys all saw that [knockout against Paul]? I’m not fighting boxing. Are we dumb? I’m not good at boxing.”