Here’s a story reported one year ago today after Sean O’Malley took exception to comments made by Ben Askren.
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 21, 2020, 2:40 PM]
Ben Askren had some harsh criticism for Sean O’Malley after his injury and loss at UFC 252 this past weekend, and “Sugar” has finally responded.
O’Malley took on Marlon Vera in the co-main event of the pay-per-view (PPV) last Saturday night. The former was a heavy favorite from fans to leave victorious, but after sustaining an injury midway through the first round, Vera capitalized and was able to put O’Malley away, albeit a controversial stoppage as well. Just days later, Ben Askren, filling in for Daniel Cormier, took to “DC & Helwani” and offered some harsh criticism for the young bantamweight.
“He wanted to just be out of there for whatever reason,” Askren said. “If they tried carting me out because of an ankle injury, I would’ve fought someone over that,” Askren said. “You’re not putting my ass on a stretcher because I got an ankle injury. I got one other good leg, and I’m gonna hop all the way to the back. Leave me the eff alone. I think he needs to grow up. …”
Now, O’Malley has taken to his “The Timbo and Sugar Show” podcast to resond to “Funky’s” comments, calling him “slow.”
“I thought Ben Askren was smart,” O’Malley said. (via MMA Junkie) “I didn’t know he was slow. You have an opportunity, you (expletive) your foot up. I had an opportunity. Your foot’s (expletive) up, and you have to walk here to there.
“Or they said, ‘Here, we’ll push you on a little thing with wheels so you don’t have to walk on your (expletive) up foot, make it worse.’ I’m like, ‘God, big Ben – I thought you were smarter. I didn’t know you were stupid.’ It’s just stupid. If you ask the smartest person in the world, you smash their foot and you say, ‘Do you want to walk over there or do you want to be carted?,’ they would take the cart.”
O’Malley claims he suffered no serious damage to his ankle but has not yet been medically cleared. He’ll visit another doctor for an MRI this week. In fact, he recently posted a video of himself dancing, claiming he simply “tripped” during the fight.
