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Jeff WagenheimESPN
Ben Askren arrived in the UFC earlier this year as an undefeated fighter who had been a champion in two other promotions and was determined to prove he is the best welterweight in the world. Now, after suffering his second straight loss on Saturday, the 35-year-old isn’t sure if he will continue that pursuit.
“Retirement is definitely something I am considering,” he said Monday during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, reflecting back to his submission loss to Demian Maia over the weekend in Singapore. “I would be lying to you if I said I was not. It’s a time/cost analysis. I have a lot of things I want to do in my life. I’m a really busy guy. I have a lot of things I’m passionate about and I love.”
Askren (19-2, 1 NC), a two-time NCAA Division 1 national champion wrestler who competed in the 2008 Olympics, runs two wrestling academies and a camp in Wisconsin, has two podcasts, is involved in cryptocurrency investing and has been a world-ranked disc golfer.
He was the 170-pound champion in Bellator from 2010 to 2013 before moving on to ONE Championship, where he won the belt in 2014 and reigned for three years before announcing his retirement. Then, last November, ONE and the UFC engineered a trade in which the Asian promotion acquired former UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson in exchange for Askren’s contract. He came out of retirement to make his UFC debut in March, choking out Robbie Lawler, but in July fell victim to the fastest knockout in the promotion’s history, finished in five seconds by Jorge Masvidal.
That loss derailed Askren, who believed a victory would have earned him a title shot. Even after the setback, though, he thought a win over Maia would put him back on track toward his goal.
“The only thing I came back for was to try to prove I was the best in the world,” he said. “After the Masvidal fight, if I beat Demian Maia I’m probably one good win away from a title fight. Now look at my path and I say, ‘Oh, s—, I’m kind of far away.'”
While acknowledging that he has not shown himself to be the best in the world, Askren believes he is still capable of showing it. Although two judges scored Saturday’s first two rounds 19-19 and the third scorecard had it 20-18 for Maia, Askren believes he “was winning the fight both in the standup and I was getting the takedowns and doing ground-and-pound and kind of winning the scrambles on the ground.”
That shows, he said, that he can compete with the best. So will he continue his quest to be the best?
“My feelings,” he said, “are very, very mixed.”