Breaking: Ben Askren Retires

After coming back from retirement to fight in the UFC, Ben Askren has decided to call it a day for the final time. This may not come as a shock as he’d previously opened up about considering it after being submitted by Demian Maia at UFC Singapore. The 35 year-old announced his retirement live on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show, also elaborating on the reasons behind the decision.

Askren revealed that he’d been advised by his doctor to have a full hip replacement. This will put him out of action for a long time, right around the age when most fighter’s careers naturally start to wind down. Askren even got sentimental when discussing his career: “I got really emotional the other day because I just started thinking about all the great experiences I’ve had and how lucky I’ve been to have the amount of success I’ve had.”

Ben Askren has had a strong MMA career going 19-2 (1 NC) and winning both the Bellator and One Championship belts in the process. That was shortly before his initial retirement and subsequent UFC run. Askren managed to beat Robbie Lawler before losing his last two fights in decisive fashion against Jorge Masvidal and Demian Maia.

All of this was after making a trip to the 2008 Olympics to represent USA in freestyle wrestling. While Askren has previously returned to his roots and even competed in submission wrestling at ADCC, he shut the door on his career in any combat sport pretty definitively: “I’m retiring from the sport of MMA. Frankly, I’m retiring from everything.”