Ben Askren returns to wrestling just one year after life-saving double-lung transplant

Ben Askren is set to compete in a wrestling match at RAF 11 against Belal Muhammad, just over twelve months after a near-death medical crisis that left him hospitalised, comatose for days, and ultimately requiring a double-lung transplant to survive.

The former UFC welterweight and one-time Olympian was barely recognisable when he first regained consciousness and shared an update on his condition in June 2025. Now, with his doctors having signed off on his return to competition, Askren says the experience has taken on an almost surreal quality.

“I’m almost to the point where it seems like a bad dream or something sometimes,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “I feel like I’m just me now. Obviously, I take medicine every day, and there’s still some limitations that I can’t forget about, but I do find myself feeling more and more normal. At points it does just seem like a terrible dream.”

Askren spent months in rehabilitation following the transplant, at times struggling to catch his breath as he adjusted to life with new lungs. He eventually returned to coaching at his Askren Wrestling Academy, where his path back to competition began almost by accident.

“It was probably something like I was coaching a private lesson and one of my kids was probably being a little too lippy or something,” Askren said with a laugh. “I remember when RAF told me they were coming to Milwaukee, something said I should wrestle in that.”

The moment that convinced him he could actually compete came during a private lesson session when uneven numbers left him stepping onto the mat himself. He took on a scrappy 190-pound high school wrestler and won, albeit in what he described as an “uber conservative style” — partly because he genuinely wasn’t sure he could last the full six minutes.

“My thought was funny because I don’t know if I can go six minutes. I might just fall over at four minutes or five minutes,” he said. “I won the match. I was like fine, I’m not very good right now but within the course of training over the next three months, I can get a lot better.”

To look at Askren now, he bears a close resemblance to the fighter who competed in the UFC, though his body has undergone a transformation few athletes ever face. The fact that he is medically cleared and stepping onto a competitive mat as the co-main event of RAF 11 represents one of the more remarkable recoveries in recent combat sports memory.