BREAKING: Ben Askren Forced into Career Retirement

After conquering two different organizations, Ben Askren came into the UFC with a lot of expectations. He always wanted to compete against the best and he finally got the opportunity when he was signed by UFC.

Askren made his debut with a controversial win against former champion, Robbie Lawler. Even though the win was controversial, Askren became the talk of the town for a brief period. The next two fights did not go in his favor as he suffered a devastating knock out loss against Jorge Masvidal and a submission loss against Demian Maia. After two consecutive losses, fans were expecting Askren to retire from the sports, and he has finally made the official announcement.

During his 10th appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show, Ben Askren officially ended his career probably from all forms of sports. Askren announced:

“I think it’s fairly obvious what I am going to say. I am retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts and frankly, I am retiring from everything. I was thinking about it when we last talked, obviously something I was considering.”

Ben Askren also revealed that he was undergoing some severe hip injuries ever since he made his debut in UFC. Askren continued:

“I have been having hip problems and I finally had a discussion with my doctor, I actually got the MRI before my last fight and I need a hip replacement. So, man, that’s it for me.”

Even with the last two losses, Ben Askren had a great fight career as he has won the championship in Bellator and ONE, and he had an undefeated streak of 19 fights until the Masvidal knock out. Looking back at his career, Askren said:

“I have been thinking about this for a week, kind of what I was going to say and all I was feeling was gratitude for how great of a career I have been able to have even though obviously, the ending did not turn out to go in my way.”

“Even this UFC thing, man, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go and see if I could do it. Because if I had never gotten that opportunity I think that would have eaten at me as I get older.”

So that’s the end of the Funky Era in MMA.