Ben Askren has called it a career once again.
“Funky” who came out of retirement in late-2018 due to a trade to the UFC is hanging his gloves up once again. He wanted to prove he was the best in the world and can’t do that anymore after going 1-2 in his UFC career. Askren made the announcement on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.
“Well, I think it is fairly obvious what I am going to say. I’m retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts, and frankly, I’m retiring from everything,” Askren said.
Ben Askren says he has been having hip problems recently which also contributed to him retiring. He says the issues have been there for three to five years and when he trained fully again it really started to bother him again.
Askren retires with a record of 19-2 and one no-contest. In the UFC, he beat Robbie Lawler by submission and then was knocked out in five-seconds to Jorge Masvidal and lost by submission to Demian Maia at UFC Singapore.
The former Olympic wrestler was also the former Bellator and ONE Championship welterweight champion. He has notable wins over Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Shinya Aoki, and Lyman Good among others.
“Funky” says he is grateful for the opportunity in the UFC but says the need for hip replacement signaled the end of his career. He says had the hip not been a problem, he most likely would have at least one more time.
He also makes it clear he lost because he was not good enough and his opponents were better. He wants it known the hip injury is not the reason why he lost.
