Ben Askren Ready to Destroy His Next Project in Retirement From Fighting
Ben Askren will be just fine leaving combat sports. With the announcement of his retirement from competition, Askren is making the rounds fielding questions on what his plans are moving forward once he gets his hip replacement surgery. The casual fans of MMA may have only seen Askren at the end of his career when he signed with the UFC, but the former Bellator and One Championship welterweight was 19-0 before suffering the infamous knock out against Jorge Masvidal.
While making the rounds with media addressing his retirement, Askren spoke with TMZ about the fans reaching out that have been following his career. While there were a lot of kind words and questions about emotions, Askren said, “My life didn’t end! I’m ready to go destroy my next project.”
However, with questions about the future come questions about the past and his losses to Masvidal and Maia. As always, honest and to the point when asked if had he not had the issue with his hip would the outcome of those fights would be different, Askren answered, “No”, and said, “I lost because I wasn’t good enough, that’s why I lost.”
He also mentioned how no fighter is always 100% when they compete and that Maia and Masvidal likely have their own nagging injuries they deal with, but they still show up to fight. With that attitude in mind, Askren said he had people from the wrestling community that reached out, had a similar procedure done, and they are still able to be involved with the sport in some capacity as far as coaching goes.
That is good news for Askren since he said both he and his brother already have several wrestling academies and plan on expanding.
He may be retired from fighting but there should be plenty of “Funk” to pass along to future competitors.
