Ben Askren plans to stay retired but for the right opportunity, he’d considered putting his gloves back on.
Askren isn’t fooling himself. At the age of 36 and coming off two straight finishing losses, “Funky” understands that his best days are likely behind him. He is successful outside of the cage with his wrestling academy and his venture into the world of bitcoin. Still, money talks.
Ben Askren Details How He’d Come Out Of Retirement
During his podcast on Rofkin, Askren discussed the possibility of fighting one more time if given the right offer (h/t MMAFighting).
“So here’s the deal: I would never make like full-fledge, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go fight, I’m gonna chase the title,’” Askren said. “But I love combat. I enjoy wrestling. I enjoy fighting. So yeah, if someone said, ‘Here’s some money, go fight one time. Here’s the right opponent, let’s have some fun.’ I probably would, you know?”
Askren was last seen inside the Octagon back in Oct. 2019. He was choked out by Demian Maia. “Funky” was coming off a five-second knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal. Following the defeat to Maia, Askren announced his retirement.
While Askren’s time under the UFC banner was short-lived, he didn’t walk away from pro competition without gold. He is a former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight title holder. Notable wins in Askren’s career came against Robbie Lawler, albeit controversial, Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Shinya Aoki, and Lyman Good.
Askren walked away from MMA competition with a record of 19-2, 1 NC. Of those 19 victories, he earned six of them by TKO and six by submission.
