MMAWeekly 2025 Fighter of the Year: Ben Askren | MMA News
The Fighter of the Year is usually a fighter who rose to the championship, or strung together an spectacular listing of wins over top-tier expertise. It’s normally a fighter whose performances stand above the relaxation.
But sometimes the resilience and unwavering willpower shown exterior of the ring or cage overshadows something achieved in it. That’s what occurred in 2025.
Former UFC fighter and Bellator and ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren did not spend 2025 getting ready for a next match. He spent it preventing for his life. In one of the best comeback tales in fight sports activities historical past, Askren defied the odds.
In May, Askren was healthy and had plans for the relaxation of the yr. Those plans didn’t embody months in the hospital and present process a life altering double lung transplant surgical procedure, but that’s the hand life dealt him.
Askren went to the hospital with back pain. He was really struggling from “severe pneumonia” and in dire condition.
For 59 days, Askren was hospitalized and he does not keep in mind 35 of them. He has no recollection of something from May 28 until July 2 and died 4 occasions during the battle for his life. Released after two months, Askren discovered himself back in the hospital just six days later with an infection.
Related: Former UFC champion reveals his 2025 MMA awards
Throughout the harrowing ordeal, Askren and his household offered common updates on his condition and recovery. He was frail and unable to stroll without help, but was decided to do whatever it took to improve. Despite being confronted with huge bodily challenges and lifestyle adjustments, Askren stayed constructive and centered on recovery. He continues to improve.
Askren retired from MMA in 2019. He returned to fight sports activities in April 2021 in a boxing match against Jake Paul. He hosted a common podcast on YouTube with former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier before falling in poor health.
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