Ben Askren has been telling people he plans to fight George St. Pierre in late 2019. The undefeated welterweight might want to fight GSP’s longtime Tristar teammate, Rory MacDonald, earlier than that, however.

Askren announced his retirement from MMA after defeating Shinya Aoki at ONE 63 last November. He needed just 57 seconds to knockout Aoki in a bout from Kallang, Sinapore. Despite his announcement, Askren said he was leaving the door open for a fight with GSP.

“My main motivation is to prove I’m No. 1 in the world,” Askren stated to MMAjunkie Radio in February. “I think it will happen, at the Bell Centre (in Montreal). Me vs. ‘GSP,’ probably somewhere in late 2019. … I don’t need to make any more money from fighting, and there’s only one thing left to prove. I’ve been No. 1 for the past five years, and I’ve unfortunately never had the chance to prove that fight. It’s the one thing that interests me.”

Last night, MacDonald and Askren were involved in a lengthy Twitter exchange. During the course of the interaction, it appears MacDonald spoke to Scott Coker about the possibility of setting a fight up between the two.

im good with that to

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) April 18, 2018

You think you could go the distance? I think I [email protected] in round 3, the fight looks similar to what Condit did to you in round 3 https://t.co/Qp1SAuISiS

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) April 18, 2018

i disagree

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) April 18, 2018

Tell your boss https://t.co/Qp1SAuISiS

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) April 18, 2018

Rory MacDonald then appeared to tell his boss about it just as Askren requested.

i have asked @ScottCoker about getting you in bellator for a fight, i guesse you need to do your part

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) April 18, 2018

For reasons not altogether clear, the Bellator Twitter account then decided to post a meme of a sloth:

pic.twitter.com/iL8CJz3XKl

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) April 19, 2018

Stalling on @ScottCoker https://t.co/5HJBZlYyOy

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) April 19, 2018

woah woah you remember the day we were face to face, and i challanged you there on the spot and you put your tail between your legs and said i only fight for money and walked off, the only one stalling is you, if u want it to happen make a deal with bellator and im ready to go

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) April 19, 2018

Fake news. I approached you and I told you that you would be an easy nights work. You would be an easy nights work. https://t.co/fiLnAdhzYD

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) April 19, 2018

Wrong as I remembered you stuttered and got red in the face. I was coaching Pettis so I had to bounce and didn’t stick around for the reply. https://t.co/N4e7TZXVcX

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) April 19, 2018

anyhow im about the future, not gonna dwell on you back peddling when it came down to it, do your part and sign up like a professional

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) April 19, 2018

MacDonald won the Bellator welterweight championship in his last fight. He defeated Douglas Lima via unanimous decision at Bellator 192 on January 20th, 2018. It is the same title Askren vacated when he and Bellator couldn’t come to terms on a new contract in 2013.

Since that time, the only two welterweights to hold the Bellator title have been Douglas Lima (who has been defeated by both Askren and MacDonald) and Andrey Koreshkov (who has been defeated by Lima and Askren).