Ben Askren: ‘Never Say Never’ On MMA Return
Former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion Ben Askren has refused to rule out a return to MMA one year on from his retirement from the sport.
Askren retired after suffering back-to-back defeats against Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia. An ongoing hip issue hindered the final stages of his career. Once retired he opted against getting a full hip replacement and instead underwent surgery that had him pain-free almost immediately and left the door open on a potential return to MMA.
“I would say, never say never,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “I think it’s unlikely, but I’m gonna wrestle next year. Not WWE wrestle, but real wrestle. I need a reason to train and stay in shape. I love eating ice cream and everything else. I haven’t got on a scale in a year. I haven’t gotten on a scale since I fought Demian Maia over a year ago.”
“If I don’t have a good reason to get on the scale, I’m not getting on the scale and I know that ain’t great for my health. I’m not super obese, but I’m definitely not in great shape right now and I can’t really train. I can ride a bike right now, that’s about all I can do with my hip but give me a few more months and I’ll be able to start getting on the mat. I’ll be able to start lightly doing some stuff.
“I’m definitely going to try and get some wrestling matches next year just so I can have a reason to stay in shape and I’m at the wrestling academy five days a week anyways so it won’t change that much.”
Askren claims no-one has never gone on to fight professionally after getting the surgery he did. However he feels the door is still slightly open and refuses to fully rule out having another fight.
“My doctor doesn’t think that anyone has had the surgery and then fought professionally afterwards,” Askren said. “He’s done a few golfers, and he’s done like 950 of these. He’s one of the preeminent guys that does them. I want to say he’s done The Undertaker, or something like that.
“And that’s one of the reasons I was excited about this specific surgery because if you do the full hip replacement, you don’t do sh*t. You can’t run, you can’t wrestle, you can’t grapple, you’re out on everything. With the surgery that I got, I should be able to be full go after a year.”
Do you think Ben Askren should stay retired or fight again?
