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Former UFC fighter and Olympic athlete Ben Askren will be fighting 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), and his wife, Amy, even said he needed a “miracle.”
However, a miracle happened, and the return is now near.
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Ben Askren attends a press conference for the first Thriller Fight Club 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 founded by the late Hulk Hogan.
ask”severe pneumonia developed that came out of nowhere” 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 didn’t remember anything from May 28 to July 2 and “only passed out four times” while losing 50 pounds in the hospital. He was discharged from the hospital on July 22 after 59 days.
“It was hard, hard. And I said this already in one of my videos, but the support you gave me, whether it was sending a GoFundMe, whether it was helping my kids and my wife get through it – I had friends from all over the country come to visit and hang out for a few days – it meant a lot,” Askren said upon his release. “It’s been really nice to have all this support and all this love, and I hope I’m not in this situation for a really 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 Oct. 26, 2019. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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Askren said he then converted to Christianity.
“There were many times when they thought I was dead. Like I was dead, that’s the other side,” Askren said in an interview later. “I woke up and just decided I was a Christian. So, that’s crazy.
“I went to church with my wife for 15 years because that was part of the deal. I said, ‘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 it.’ Do you know? So, that was weird.”
Former UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington will also fight at the event.
The 41-year-old was the NCAA champion in the 170-pound division in 2006 and 2007 and went on to compete for Team USA in 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 by 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 awaits the start of the mixed martial arts fight between David Branch and Jared Cannoner at UFC 230 in New York on Nov. 3, 2018. (Julio Cortez/AP)
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In 2021, he fought Jake Paul in a boxing match.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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