Earlier this year, one of the best fighters to have never stepped in the Octagon finally signed with the UFC when Ben Askren came over as part of the historic trade deal between the UFC and ONE Championship. Askren wasted no time, essentially calling out the entire 170-pound division, with the exception of his teammate, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Eventually, Askren was booked against former champion Robbie Lawler for his promotional debut at UFC 233 in January but that hasn’t stopped him from still picking fights with anyone he can.

Over the weekend, Askren took to Instagram to call out welterweight contender Kamaru Usman for avoiding fighting him in favor of pursuing a No. 1 contender bout with Colby Covington.

“Mr. Usman, we find ourselves in a situation where you are looking like quite the hypocrite,” Askren said. “As we all know, Mr. Tyron Woodley is injured, can’t fight Colby. We know you want to fight Colby. We know Colby’s a scared little b*tch, and that’s fine. But I have made my services available to you for a fight on January 26 and now you’re trying to play the same game as Colby is. Colby’s ignoring you, now you’re ignoring me.”

Usman recently took a dominant decision over former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos that had UFC President Dana White say he’d like to see “The Nigerian Nightmare” challenge for the title next. But despite having the UFC President announce that he essentially has a title shot in waiting, Usman isn’t prepared to sit around and instead called out for a fight with the presumptive number one contender Covington in January. Covington did not respond, apparently content to wait on his own title shot early next year when Woodley returns from hand surgery, but Askren says he is still ready to handle Usman for Woodley instead.

“Listen, I know you hear me because you have a measly little 30,000 Twitter followers, a tiny amount of the social media following that I do,” Askren said. “I know you hear me, Marty, so make sure you respond to this. Don’t be a hypocrite, don’t be a little b*tch like Colby. I’ll be there, January 26. I hope you’re there also.”

UFC 233 takes place on January 26. It currently has no main event scheduled, though Woodley has suggested he would like to headline the card if possible.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Results. Max Holloway and Valentina Shevchenko walked away with gold at UFC 231.

Lightweight. Max Holloway: At 155, Khabib Nurmagomedov fight ‘might excite me the most’.

Bantamweight. Valentina Shevchenko planning long title reign, but still has ‘unfinished business’ with Amanda Nunes.

Strawweight. Dana White would prefer Joanna Jedrzejczyk head back to strawweight.

Commission. Khabib Nurmagomedov granted continuance in Nevada commission case.

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VIDEO STEW

Post-fight Show.

Bellator WW GP Countdown.

MMA fighters who couldn’t walk away.

Woodley’s rehab.

Blessed Era.

UFC 231 post-mortem.

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LISTEN UP

Severe MMA. Discussing UFC 231, MMA journalism, and recent controversies.

SBN Postfight. Post-fight analysis of UFC 231.

LT Cast. Immediate post-fight reaction to UFC 231.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Ortega statement.

Blessed Era.

Make it happen.

Max would work him.

Then things got weird.

Not even close.

The champ is here.

Throwback.

Call out.

Kinda wild.

Right in the feels.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Johnny Walker (14-3) vs. Justin Ledet (9-1, 1 NC); UFC Fortaleza, Feb. 2.

Kai Kara France(18-7, 1 NC) vs. Raulian Paiva (18-1); UFC 234, Feb. 10.

Mirko Cro Cop (37-11-2, 1 NC) vs. Roy Nelson (23-16); Bellator 217, Feb. 16.

James Gallagher (7-1) vs. Steven Graham (6-3); Bellator Dublin, Feb. 23.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2011: Jon Jones submitted Lyoto Machida at UFC 140 to retain his light heavyweight title. In the co-main event, Frank Mir submitted Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with a kimura.

2016: Max Holloway won the interim featherweight title at UFC 206,

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m down for Max vs. basically anyone, but personally, give me Max vs. Nate. That’s maybe the most exciting fight you can make in MMA these days, in my opinion.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let him know about it! Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, and like us on Facebook!