Mixed martial arts is a sport, first and foremost. Contrary to the dribble spewed from the mouths of know-nothings who liken the sport to little more than barbaric savagery. Still, as homogenized as fans like to portray MMA, the fact of the matter is that the fighters are engaging in an act where you actively look to punch another human in the face. In such a high stakes game, from time to time, tempers will flare between two factions.
This seems to the be the case in the highly anticipated rematch between Ben Askren and Ryan Thomas which will take place as the co-featured bout at Bellator 19 taking place this Thursday at the Verizon Center in Grand Prairie. Askren and Thomas first tangled at Bellator 14 this past April. It was a closely contested contest in the opening minutes until Askren locked in an anchonda choke on Thomas at the 2:30 mark in the opening round. Thomas was caught but had not tapped out when the referee jumped in a waived a halt to the bout. Was the stoppage a tad bit premature? Probably, Thomas seemed to be fighting the hold, but in a sport where your air supply is often compromised the referee probably aired on the side of caution. Still, the loss has not set well with Thomas.
“I think it’s pretty cowardly of him to be walking around running his mouth bragging about a victory he didn’t earn,” Thomas, the 12-4 UFC veteran said in a recent press release. “The guy hasn’t done anything in MMA. He hasn’t beaten anybody, including me, so I don’t know where he gets off disrespecting me. After this fight I’m gonna show him that you can’t be a one-dimensional fighter in MMA in this day and age.”
Thomas also revealed last Wednesday that his training partners pasted photos of Askren and some of his “trash-talking” comments all over the walls at his gym in Central Illinois as inspiration.
“It’s helped put that visual image in my head of him running his mouth and disrespecting me,” Thomas said. “It’s helped me train a lot harder. I don’t like the guy, so that’s made a difference.”
Thomas’ continued complaints seem to have gotten under the skin of Askren.
“I’m going to do the same thing I did the last time: I’m going to go in there and choke him,” said Askren, the 25-yearold former NCAA all-American and U.S. Olympian. “Only this time I’m gonna put him to sleep all the way so he can’t complain about it.”
Askren has also accused Thomas of “talking [trash] on the message boards.”
“I think he’s been really immature about the whole thing from Day 1,” Askren said. “I’ve just tried to go about my own business and prepare for the fight, and he’s been out talking [trash] on the message boards. That’s the kind of thing I might have done when I was 16 years old – not a grown man. It’s all pretty childish if you ask me.”
Thomas vehemently denies these allegations saying that he “can’t control what the fans do.”
Thomas is also quoted as saying, “[Askren] knows he didn’t submit me with that make-believe move.”
“It was a bad call by the referee,” says Thomas. “I was fine … I was totally fine.”
(Ben Askren photo © Bellator.com)
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