Bellator not interested in resigning Ben Askren

[The Great Cochrane]

Christopher Murphy - Ben Askren recently became a free agent, and it seems no one is rushing to pull the 2-time NCAA champion and U.S. Olympic wrestler from limbo.

Bellator, the organization through which Askren rose to being 12-0 and welterweight champion, has explicitly stated its intent to not re-sign the current champion.
Bellator CEO, Bjorn Rebney, told ESPN.com:

“I don’t think we’re going to make an offer at this point, so I don’t see any reason to make anybody sit out. If Ben’s going to go to the UFC, we should speed up that process so he can go fight. I’d love to see Ben versus GSP. If the UFC does make an offer, we’ll take a look at it and move on from there. We haven’t been proactive yet. I have nothing but good things to say about Ben as a fighter, but we’re all very aware of how he fights and what he does- it’s not for everyone.“

While the UFC has expressed interest in Askren, UFC President Dana White has shared a wealth of negative opinions toward the welterweight in the past. Askren did win his last two fights, however, via TKO.
The relatively cold dismissal on the part of Bjorn Rebney, however, leaves a number of people somewhat confused.

Bellator is rather famous for its relentless captivity over Eddie Alvarez. Rebney’s sentiments now, despite their tone, do not ensure that Viacom- which owns Bellator- will not try the same contract-type business with Askren.
In any case, Askren has yet to find the direction in which his MMA career will continue. If he does go to the UFC, we could possibly see the Twitter war between Askren and UFC fighter Michael Bisping come to fruition in 3-round fight.

Well this is good news for any TNA wrestling fan reading, it means that the UFC is zapping Bellator's top talent. If what Bjorn Rebney said is correct, than it means Bellator is more than likely be folding in a matter of a few years. And that means you'll never have to see washed up people like Tito or Rampage horribly representing MMA in Wrestling again (unless you like seeing them of course). Of course I'm not opposed to the whole idea of it, I just think they could have made better choices than Tito and Rampage.

As for MMA fans - I believe it'll good to see Askren in the UFC since they couldn't get Alvarez. I do however think he should face the Rory MacDonald/Robbie Lawler winner before advancing to face GSP. Although if they gave him an immediate shot I could definitely see why. As for Bellator well, they're certainly making a big mistake with having Tito and Rampage headline over the Michael Chandler/Eddie Alvarez rematch. I smell this Pay Per View being a big flop for Bellator