Dillon Danis Trashes “Overrated” Ben Askren Ahead of Demian Maia Fight

Ben Askren will be making his return since his loss to Jorge Masvidal. He is going to take on Demian Maia in the main event of UFC Singapore. Now stylistically this is a tough fight for Askren since Demian Maia is a submission artist and one of the best grapplers in UFC. Though he will still be going into the fight as a favorite Dillon Danis sees Askren losing the fight against Maia.

Related: UFC Singapore FIght card and predictions

The rivalry between Ben Askren and Dillon Danis is notorious as they keep trading jabs on social media. Well, no love was lost between these two when Dillon Danis showed up for an interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. When asked about Askren’s upcoming fight with Demian Maia, Danis predicted an easy win for Maia. Danis said:

“If I had to bet, I see Demian taps him for sure. I see second-round submission. Think about too, Demian has way better striking than him, so he is f***ed.”

Demian Maia has lost several fights to fighters such as Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, and Tyron Woodley who are predominantly wrestlers. Former champion, Tyron Woodley even claims that Ben Askren can school Demian Maia when it comes to grappling, a narrative that he most likely came up with after watching Jake Shields and Ben Askren spar and after training with Ben Askren for his fight title defense against Demian Maia. Jake Shields got the job done against Demian Maia too and Ben Askren is a more decorated wrestler than Jake Shields. However, Dillon Danis does not think Askren is as good as Shields and his grappling is overrated.

Dillon Danis added:

“There is a video back in the day, Jake and Ben Askren training, Jake was tapping him over and over again him.. training at Marcelo, he is very overrated. Demian for sure will tap him, he has fought way better competition and he is a way better black belt.”

Both Askren and Maia are two of the best grapplers we have in UFC at the moment. After the loss to Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren needs a win for sure. While a dominant win against Maia will again get him back to the mix of top fighters in the division, a loss will kill all the hype he had coming into UFC.