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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 has happened and a comeback is now on the horizon.
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Ben Askren attends a press conference for Triller Fight Club’s inaugural 2021 boxing event at 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.
Ask “developed severe pneumonia which happened very suddenly” last June, Amy said, and was eventually put on life support. Askren was placed on the transplant list on June 24 and received a donor organ a few days later.
Askren later said he did not remember anything between May 28 and July 2 and that he had “only died four times” losing 50 pounds in the hospital. He was released from the hospital on July 22 after 59 days.
“It was tough, it was tough. And I said this before in one of my videos, but the support that you gave me, whether it was sending a GoFundMe, or helping my kids and my wife get through it – friends from all over the country came to visit and spend a few days – it meant so much,” Askren said upon his release. “It’s been so great to have all this support and all this love, and I hope I won’t be in this situation again for a long, long, long time. I plan to live for a while.”
Ben Askren stands in his corner before his welterweight fight against Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night in Singapore on October 26, 2019. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
BOXER JAKE PAUL ALL THE PERSEVERANCE OF FORMER OPPONENT BEN ASKREN DURING EX-UFC STAR’S FIGHT AGAINST SERIOUS ILLNESS
Askren said he then turned to Christianity.
“There were several times where 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’ll support you.’ And it was really weird when I woke up, I was like, “I have to do this.” You know? So it was a little weird.”
Former UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington will also fight in this 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 for Bellator in 2010. He then competed in ONE Championship before joining the UFC.
He defeated Robbie Lawler by submission at UFC 235 before losing to Jorge Masvidal in a highly publicized fight. Askren retired from mixed martial arts in 2019 after going 19-2, with both losses coming in his three UFC fights.
UFC fighter Ben Askren waits for the start of a mixed martial arts fight between David Branch and Jared Cannonier at UFC 230 in New York on November 3, 2018. (Julio Cortés/AP)
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In 2021, he fought Jake Paul in a boxing match.
