Former Bellator Welterweight champ Ben Askren is meeting with UFC CEO/Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta next week, though UFC President Dana White swears it won’t lead to a job with the company.

MMA Fighting first reported the high-profile meeting on Friday afternoon.

Askren will meet with Fertitta in Las Vegas on Monday, with White chiming in over the phone, the report says.

"We're gonna meet with him on Monday," White told MMA Fighting. "We're just not going to sign him. He can go to World Series of Fighting where there's actually some competition for him. There's no competition for him at that other place [Bellator].

"At least at WSOF he can get some competition and test himself."

Askren, a former Olympic-level wrestler who is 12-0 inside the cage, fought the last fight on his Bellator contract back in July, scoring a decisive TKO over Andrey Koreshkov in July.

After some on-and-off negotiations with the company, “Funky” was released last Thursday with the expectation being that the undefeated fighter would sign a quick deal with UFC.

However, things didn’t work out that way, as White said “he’s got some work to do” when questioned about Askren, stating that he’d need to win some fights in another promotion before the UFC entertained signing him.

WSOF made an offer to Askren last week, who is yet to accept or turn down the deal as of Friday evening. Given his schedule on Monday, it looks like the WSOF deal will be up in the air for a few more days.