Ben Askren Walks Alone: Is the OneFC Champ MMA's Most Interesting Character?

Clearly, getting kicked off Inside MMA was a win-win for Ben Askren.

If Askren had been wondering how to take his ongoing rift with UFC President Dana White to the next level, Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten were happy to squat down last Friday and give him a boost.

By prematurely pulling the plug on their interview with the outspoken OneFC welterweight champion, Rice and Rutten managed to let Askren say his peace while simultaneously propping him up as the exiled firebrand too hot for American TV.

And if you’re Askren, that’s exactly where you want to be.

Hilarious and uncomfortable video below:

Not bad for five minutes of work, especially for a guy who doesn’t figure to fight in the U.S. for at least another year-and-a-half or four more fights (whichever comes first). Somehow, after butting heads with the UFC and moving his career overseas, Askren has become more relevant than he ever was during his nearly three years as Bellator champion.

Legitimate question: Who in MMA is more interesting than this guy right now?

Legitimate answer: Maybe nobody.

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Fallout from his Inside MMA appearance has been swift. After a flurry of media attention, AXS Fights CEO Andrew Simon issued an apology, inviting Askren to return to the program to “continue the discussion.” Again, a win for the fighter. On Tuesday, Rutten published a statement on his personal Facebook page. Askren has responded with his trademark panache and so far has walked away from the controversy looking like the rebellious athlete who was once again wronged by the fighting establishment.

In an industry that prides itself on never being told what to do or what to say, that’s a pretty good look.

Remember when the UFC used to market itself as the brash, opinionated outsider trying to make waves in a mainstream sports world that wouldn’t give it a chance? That’s Askren now. He’s effectively stolen the fight company’s gimmick, fashioning himself into the rugged individualist while casting the UFC as The Man who is always trying to keep him down.

As the world’s largest MMA promoter continues to scuffle through a difficult 2014 and Bellator seems stuck chasing its own tail, Askren may well have emerged from a disastrous recent free agency smelling like a rose.

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After Bellator’s old regime let him walk last November, it appeared inevitable he’d wind up in the Octagon. Even by the most conservative estimates, Askren is a top-10 talent, and the UFC seldom lets great fighters slip through its fingers. But contract negotiations fell apart and—irritated that White would presume to tell him what to do—Askren inked a deal with OneFC instead.

At the time it seemed like, if not quite career suicide, at best a lateral move. We assumed he would disappear into the void of the independent MMA scene, fighting exclusively on mid-morning Internet streams against fairly anonymous international competition.

At least some of those notions proved right. Askren can’t be regarded as a real candidate for world No. 1 welterweight so long as he’s fighting in OneFC. But he claims he’s being paid comparably, and against all odds, his career is only gaining more momentum.

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Even more preposterously, he’s doing it without the UFC, without a conventional pay-per-view model behind him and—at least up until recently—with very little fan support.

By positioning himself as the UFC's unofficial ombudsman, he’s transformed himself into one of our sport’s must-see interview subjects. Clearly, there’s a little bit of Chael Sonnen in this guy, and so far without any of the ugly baggage. He’s smart and charismatic, and it doesn’t hurt that many of the criticisms he lobs at the UFC ring true to an increasingly dissatisfied fanbase.

Inside the cage, there’s a little bit of Georges St. Pierre in him. And maybe a little Matt Hughes too.

Askren has spent the last 20 months chipping away at the biggest knock against him—that he’s a boring fighter who wouldn’t be a saleable commodity for the UFC. After a string of six decisions in a row between 2010 and 2013, he’s now piled up four straight stoppage victories.

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The last—a one-minute, 24-second destruction of Nobutatsu Suzuki to claim the OneFC title last month—effectively dispelled the last vestiges of the Askren-is-boring myth.

Even White seemed to be coming around, indicating in recent interviews he wasn’t as dead-set against keeping Askren out of the Octagon as he once was. Now, though, it’s Askren who isn’t sure he wants to go.

Once again, that's another point for Askren.

The truth is, right now Bellator and the UFC should be falling all over themselves trying to wrestle him away from OneFC. So far, though, it seems like American MMA continues to miss the boat.

That’s a shame.

Askren is a unique talent in the cage and a captivating figure on the mic. Go ahead and make your jokes about his hair and about his wrestling.

I wish we had 100 just like him.