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Ben Askren retired from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) earlier this month after suffering back-to-back losses to Jorge Masvidal (knockout) and Demian Maia (submission). It’s the second time “Funky” has called it quits and appears to be the last.
After all, the Olympian has done enough over the last decade to be proud of his career.
“I’m not playing the ‘what if’ game any time, I hate the ‘what if’ game,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “You sound like a dick whenever you play that. I was a champion for two major organizations. I beat a lot of really good guys. That’s probably where I would leave it. I said I was retired. I said I’m done. I don’t feel like that’s a chapter in my life that will reopen.”
Askren parted ways with Bellator MMA back in summer 2013, when the Viacom-owned promotion was still operating under the care of Bjorn Rebney. His title was vacated and “Funky” promptly signed with ONE Championship, where he continued his winning ways en route to his second straight 170-pound title.
He retired in late 2017, only to come back when UFC extended a contractual olive branch.
“Obviously one of the things is because you’re with yourself every single day, you don’t see the decline that’s happening,” Askren said. “You see this really, slow gradual thing and you can never really remember how good you were before. So while you’ve gotten much worse, it’s hard for you to notice you’ve gotten much worse.”
Askren, 35, is expected to get hip surgery in early 2020 and is going to be sidelined for over a year, at least in terms of wrestling. Following that mandatory timeout, “Funky” has no plans to coach MMA or remain involved with the UFC family.