This is some common knowledge that has been going around for a while now, but Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren currently is without a contract when it comes to Bellator after his title defense last night. We’ve heard in the past that this is all a part of some weird negotiation tactic that Bellator believes that Askren will go to the UFC and field an offer, which he believes will be more, but Bellator believes will be less, and then Bellator feels like they’ll be able to undercut his contract (while Askren feels like he’ll get more).
As we’ve seen with Eddie Alvarez, it doesn’t seem like a smart move to play the whole game with Viacom and Bellator, as you’ll just get hung up in court for quite a while. It would be very telling for two of their bigger stars to be held up in legal proceedings trying to get out of the promotion, but many feel that Askren will stay with Bellator, just unsure of when this will all be settled.