With RAF’s upcoming event just two weeks away, Ben Askren appeared in an interview to break down what fans can expect from Colby Covington versus Dillon Danis, and what the promotion is doing to ensure the event runs cleanly.
On the Covington-Danis matchup itself, Askren was straightforward about how the bout came together and what he expects from it.
“Colby versus Danis was not my idea. Danis was a high school wrestler who was solid. I’ll say Colby was a College all-American. I can’t imagine that one’s going to be really, really competitive. That would be surprising to me.”
When the conversation turned to whether Danis would actually show up, Askren questioned the legitimacy of his resume before expressing cautious optimism.
“Is Dillon Danis ever going to show up? You know, he claims to be an MMA athlete, but I want to say he’s got like two total MMA bouts. Am I wrong on that? What’s his record?”
After being informed that Danis has three professional matches, Askren expressed surprise at how inactive the grappler has been over the years.
“I actually didn’t think that was a real mixed martial arts bout, but yeah. So I suppose he has three bouts over the course of, let’s see, oh my gosh, 2018! So he’s got three bouts over the course of eight years.”
Askren then emphasized that the lack of consistent competition could put Danis at a serious disadvantage against a seasoned wrestler like Covington.
“So I guess he’s an MMA athlete, I suppose. Will he show up? I’m hoping he will. But yeah, he’s at a significant disadvantage because Colby was a pretty solid college wrestler and Dillon never wrestled at that level.”
On the possibility of Danis pulling illegal grappling techniques during the match, Askren said he could see it happening and explained how RAF plans to handle it.
“I could thousand percent see Danis doing that. And again, I will kind of say the referees will be instructed to hold this one a little tighter, right? Because we know Colby generally wrestles by the rules and he is the one who’s better and should be the favorite and he should wrestle by the rules.”
To prevent any potential chaos, Askren laid out the disciplinary framework that will be used if illegal techniques are attempted during the bout. He continued:
“Can you see Dillon Danis getting out of pocket? Thousand percent. So here are the rules of the match. If you do things that are illegal, like say a guillotine choke hold, there will be a caution one. That will be a penalty. If there’s three penalties, then you’re disqualified.”
“So I think we just need a referee who’s really going to make them abide by the rules of the thing, and we need to make extra, extra clear, here’s the rules, here’s how it’s going to go down. And if you don’t want to do a real wrestling match, this is a real wrestling match. Then you’ll be disqualified.”
Askren also addressed the broader security measures RAF is putting in place following the chaos that unfolded at the last Armen Tsarukyan and Georgio Poullas event.
“I know RAF, we’ve talked about this. There’s going to be extra security. We cannot let what happened last time, that chaotic bout, we can’t let that happen. We got to keep it more under control.”
He closed by reinforcing that the event will be tightly regulated from both an officiating and security standpoint.
“We’re going to have a wrestling match that is refereed by the rules. It’s not going to be loose anymore. Like, we are going to call it. We’re going to have extra security. This will not get out of hand.”
