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Former UFC fighter and Olympic wrestler Ben Askren will fight for the first time in nearly seven years after undergoing a double lung transplant.
Last year, Askren was on a ventilator and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), with his wife, Amy, going so far as to say he needed a “miracle.”
Well, the miracle happened and a comeback is now on the horizon.
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Ben Askren attends a news conference for Triller Fight Club’s first 2021 boxing event at The Venetian Las Vegas on March 26, 2021. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Askren will face former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in a wrestling match at Real American Freestyle 11 on July 18, his 42nd birthday, in Milwaukee. The RAF was co-founded by the late Hulk Hogan.
Ashken”developed severe pneumonia which came on very suddenly” last June, Amy said, and was eventually put on life support. Askren was put on the transplant list on June 24 and received a donor organ days later.
Askren later said he remembered nothing from May 28 to July 2 and “only died four times” while losing 50 pounds in the hospital. He was discharged from hospital on July 22 after 59 days.
“It was tough, it was tough. And I already said it in one of my videos, but the support you guys gave me, whether it was sending a GoFundMe, whether it was helping my kids and wife get through it — I had friends from all over the country come visit and hang out for a few days — it meant so much,” Askren said when he was released. “It was so amazing just to have all that support and all that love and hopefully I’m not in this situation again for a really, really, really long time. I plan on living for a while.”
Ben Askren stands in his corner before his welterweight bout against Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night in Singapore on October 26, 2019. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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Askren said he then converted to Christianity.
“There were several times when they thought I was dead. Like I was dead, that’s the other side,” Askren said in a later interview. “I woke up and decided I was a Christian. So it’s crazy.
“I went to church with my wife for 15 years because it was part of the deal. I said, ‘Well, I’m not a Christian, but I’m going to support you’. And it was really weird, when I woke up, I’m like, ‘I’m going to do it’. You know? So it was kind of weird.”
Former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington will also fight in the event.
The 41-year-old was an NCAA champion in the 170-pound division in 2006 and 2007 and went on to compete for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics. He won gold medals at the 2005 Pan American Championships and the 2009 World Championships. He made his full transition to MMA when he debuted in Bellator in 2010. He then competed in ONE Championship before joining the UFC.
He defeated Robbie Lawler via submission at UFC 235 before losing to Jorge Masvidal in a high-profile bout. Askren retired from mixed martial arts in 2019 after compiling a 19-2 record, with both losses coming in his three UFC fights.
UFC fighter Ben Askren waits for the start of a middleweight fight between David Branch and Jared Cannonier at UFC 230 in New York on November 3, 2018. (Julio Cortez/AP)
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In 2021, he fought Jake Paul in a boxing match.
