Fans around the world are rallying behind Ben Askren as the former Olympian and fighter battles for his life.
On Saturday, word began to spread online about the health of the former ONE & Bellator champion. Pat Mineo, who is an amateur wrestling figure, shared details that Askren had contracted a significant staph infection.
Shortly after, Askren’s wife Amy shared the following status update on Facebook:
You may have heard that my husband Ben is going through something. He developed severe pneumonia, which came on very suddenly. He’s currently in the hospital and unable to respond to anything at this time. We welcome all prayers for healing and for peace. We are trying to keep life as normal as possible for our children currently and doing our best to support them thoughtfully so please refrain from discussing it with them for now.
Askren is one of the top amateur wrestlers from the U.S. this century, becoming a multiple-time NCAA Division I champion at the University of Missouri and winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy in 2006 & 2007.
He represented the U.S. in freestyle wrestling at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 before retiring and entering MMA.
Despite not having any significant striking experience, he became one of the top fighters outside of the UFC and signed with Bellator after three pro fights. Askren became the promotion’s welterweight champion in October 2010 and dominated the division for the next three years. After four title defenses, he left Bellator and joined ONE Championship, and became its welterweight champion.
In ONE, he extended his record to 18-0 (with one no contest) and beat Shinya Aoki in his final fight with the group before moving to the UFC after years of being on its radar. There was friction involving UFC president Dana White and Askren until they opted to sign the undefeated welterweight.
The circumstance was unique as ONE agreed to release Askren, and UFC agreed to do the same with Demetrious Johnson.
He only had three fights with the UFC, beating Robbie Lawler with a controversial stoppage by technical submission in his promotional debut in March 2019. Several months later, he was on the receiving end of one of the biggest highlight reel knockouts of all time when Jorge Masvidal stopped Askren with a flying knee in five seconds at UFC 239. Askren fought once more, losing by technical decision to Demian Maia in October 2019.
Despite having no boxing background, he took a lucrative fight with Jake Paul in April 2021 for Triller and lost by TKO in the opening round.
Askren has been a pillar of the amateur wrestling community throughout his life, and everyone is hopeful that he comes out of his scary situation and makes a recovery.
