Ben Askren

Ben Askren was born on July 18, 1984.⁠[1]

At Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin, he was a two-time state champion (2001, 2002) and a three-time high school All-American (2000–2002); as a senior he won the 2002 Junior National tournament and was runner-up at the High School Nationals.⁠[2]

Ignoring recruiters’ warnings that Missouri had never produced a national champion, he chose the University of Missouri; he reached the NCAA final as a freshman and as a sophomore, losing both times to Oklahoma State’s Chris Pendleton, though he beat him for the 2004 Big 12 title.⁠[3]

In 2006 he beat previously unbeaten Jake Herbert of Northwestern 14–2 in the 174-pound final to finish a 45–0 season, becoming Missouri’s first NCAA Division I wrestling champion and the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler; on March 27 he was named recipient of the Dan Hodge Trophy, known as wrestling’s Heisman.⁠[4]

In the 2007 NCAA final he beat Pittsburgh’s Keith Gavin 8–2 to become Missouri’s only back-to-back wrestling champion, closing a 42–0 season and his college career on an 87-match winning streak; Missouri took third place, its best team finish.⁠[5]

After earning his Missouri degree in 2007 he stayed on for two years as a volunteer assistant coach, then moved to Arizona State University in the same role while continuing to train for international competition with the Sunkist Kids.⁠[6]

Seeded first at 74 kg freestyle at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Las Vegas, he went unbeaten and defeated Tyrone Lewis in the final, becoming the first Missouri graduate to qualify for the Olympics in wrestling.⁠[7]

At the Beijing Olympics in men’s 74 kg freestyle he pinned Hungary’s Istvan Vereb in the first round and lost his second match to Cuba’s Ivan Fundora; Fundora’s subsequent defeat ended Askren’s run, leaving him 1–1.⁠[8]

He made his professional MMA debut in February 2009, initially training with American Top Team Missouri.⁠[9]

At Bellator 33 he went the full five rounds with former champion Lyman Good, using dominant wrestling to win the Bellator welterweight title; afterward he said he had not started boxing until September 2009 and wanted to improve his striking so he could finish opponents.⁠[10]

He held the Bellator welterweight title for three years, defending it against Jay Hieron, Douglas Lima, Karl Amoussou and Andrey Koreshkov, the Hieron bout ending in a controversial split decision; his 1,120-day reign is the longest in the promotion’s welterweight history.⁠[11]

In 2011 he founded the Askren Wrestling Academy with his brother Max Askren and their high school coach John Mesenbrink; the academy has since produced 162 Wisconsin high school state champions and three NCAA Division I champions.⁠[1]

After beating Nick Thompson at Bellator 40 in April 2011, he announced that he would leave his coaching post at Arizona State and move to Milwaukee to train under Duke Roufus at Roufusport, saying he would be a full-time professional fighter for the first time.⁠[9]

In November 2013 Bellator chief Bjorn Rebney announced Askren’s release, saying that after speaking with him it was clear it was a good time for both parties to move on.⁠[12]

Bellator also relinquished its right to match offers, making him an unrestricted free agent; he left with a 12–0 record.⁠[13]

In May 2014 he made his ONE debut at ONE: Honor & Glory, submitting Bakhtiyar Abbasov with an arm-triangle choke; that August, at ONE: Reign of Champions in Dubai, he stopped inaugural champion Nobutatsu Suzuki in 84 seconds to win the ONE welterweight world title.⁠[14]

In April 2015 he made his first title defense against Brazilian veteran Luis Santos in the main event of ONE Championship 26, “Valor of Champions”; the bout was ruled a no-contest and he kept the title.⁠[15]

In April 2016 he defended the title with a unanimous decision over Russia’s Nikolay Aleksakhin in the ONE Championship 40 “Global Rivals” main event at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, improving to 15–0.⁠[16]

By 2017 the academy had three locations in Wisconsin: the original Lake Country site in Hartland (2011), the North Shore site in Mequon (2013) and the Packerland site in Green Bay, opened in March 2017; he described passing lessons on to the next generation as a responsibility.⁠[17]

In May 2017 at ONE: Dynasty of Heroes in Singapore he submitted Malaysia’s Agilan Thani with an arm-triangle choke at 2:20 of the first round.⁠[14]

In September 2017 he stopped Sweden’s Zebaztian Kadestam by TKO in the second round in Shanghai, improving to 17–0 with one no-contest; afterward he said he was open to facing any welterweight on the planet.⁠[18]

He said that at the end of 2015 he had let ONE Championship know he had two years left, and that he wanted to retire to spend more time with family and coach at his academy; ONE said he would move into an executive role with the organization.⁠[19]

At ONE: Immortal Pursuit at the Singapore Indoor Stadium he stopped former ONE lightweight champion Shinya Aoki with punches from mount at 0:57 of the first round, retiring with an unbeaten 18–0 record.⁠[20]

He joined the UFCUFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship)UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is a mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion based in Las Vegas, United States. It began in 1993 as a no-holds-barred fighting tournament and gradually entered the mainstream after the Fertitta brothers’ Zuffa bought it for $2 million in 2001; it was sold for about $4 billion in 2016 to a consortium led by WME-IMG, and in 2023 it merged with WWE to form the publicly traded TKO Group Holdings, where as of 2026 it is one of the largest businesses by revenue.Open the full entry through a trade that sent former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to ONE; he recalled that when ONE called to ask for his consent, he had not known such a trade was possible, and said no one had ever done it before. He also noted that he had been on the 2008 U.S. Olympic wrestling team with Daniel Cormier and Henry Cejudo.⁠[21]

In his UFC 235 debut he was slammed and battered by Robbie Lawler before taking him down and applying a bulldog choke, prompting referee Herb Dean to stop the fight at 3:20 of the first round; Lawler immediately protested, the stoppage drew controversy, and Askren moved to 19–0 with one no-contest.⁠[22]

In the main event of the 10th Beat the Streets charity wrestling event at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, he lost 11–0 by technical fall to 2012 Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs before a crowd of about 5,000.⁠[23]

At UFC 239 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Jorge Masvidal knocked him down with a running flying knee at the opening bell; the five-second finish set a UFC record for the fastest knockout and handed Askren his first professional loss.⁠[24]

In the UFC Fight Night 162 main event in Singapore he scored a takedown in every round but was choked out by Demian Maia from the back at 3:54 of the third round, leaving him 1–2 in the UFC.⁠[25]

In November 2019 he announced his retirement from mixed martial arts on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, saying that hip problems meant he needed a hip replacement; he retired with a record of 19 wins, two losses and one no-contest.⁠[26]

In a cruiserweight boxing match on a Triller Fight Club card he faced social media personality Jake PaulJake PaulJake Paul is an American professional boxer, content creator and investor. He began on Vine and YouTube, appeared in a Disney Channel series, then moved into professional boxing. He co-founded Most Valuable Promotions, Anti Fund and Betr, combining media, sports events and investment. His career has also involved social-media controversies and a regulatory case concerning crypto-asset promotion.Open the full entry and lost by TKO at 1:59 of the first round.⁠[27]

Knocked down by an overhand right, he beat the count but the referee ruled him unable to continue; his disclosed purse was $500,000. Afterward he said that in MMA he was always pursuing or defending a world title, whereas this was a fun boxing match.⁠[28]

He appeared on episode 242 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, whose description calls him a wrestler and MMA fighter; topics included the Jake Paul boxing match, Jordan Burroughs, the champion mentality and handling losses, the Olympics, Dagestan wrestling, the Askren Wrestling Academy and Khabib Nurmagomedov.⁠[29]

In 2024 he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, whose profile calls him the winningest and most decorated wrestler in Mizzou history; he was then living in Wisconsin and running a wrestling academy with seven branches.⁠[3]

In 2026 he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.⁠[1]

In the co-main event of Real American Freestyle 11 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena he led 3–0 after two periods before former UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad rallied in the third to win 6–3; afterward he left his wrestling shoes on the mat, signaling the end of his competitive wrestling career.⁠[30]

After the match he said: “For sure it’s my last time on the mat.”⁠[31]

X: Public account: https://x.com/Benaskren (opens in a new window)⁠[29]

Askren Wrestling Academy: Official website: https://awawisconsin.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[29]

ONE Championship: Official website: https://www.onefc.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

UFC: Official website: https://www.ufc.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]