In early June this year, Ben Askren was fighting for his life in a hospital bed, battling a severe pneumonia that stemmed from a staph infection. The 41-year-old veteran’s condition became so serious that he slipped into a coma for 45 days and lost nearly 50 pounds. During those painful times, the entire MMA world rallied behind him, hoping he would pull through. After undergoing a successful double-lung transplant, things finally shifted toward hope. Now, just four months after that terrifying scare, Askren is officially back.

Before choosing MMA as a career path, Ben Askren built an entire legacy in wrestling, putting his hometown of Hartland, Milwaukee, on the map. Because of his deep love for the sport, Askren wanted to continue wrestling even while he was recovering from the disease. And now, after finally finding himself in shape again, the American wrestling brand, Rudis, sent him a pair of shoes. Askren immediately hit the mat with an inspiring message for the people.

On social media platform X, the former UFC fighter posted a video of his training and wrote, “4 months ago I was on my death bed, 3 months ago I couldn’t stand unassisted, 2 months ago I was still using a walker. What’s your excuse?? Tie them up tight and let’s get to work 👊👊👊. Couldn’t be more grateful to be back at it and for all of the support the community gave me during such a hard time🙏🙏🙏”  

Well, it’s good to see that even after going through so much in the past couple of months, Ben Askren can still shoot solid double- and single-leg takedown attempts, as shown in the video clip. Fans were impressed, but it wasn’t just MMA fans reacting. Former two-division champion Daniel Cormier also jumped into the comments and wrote, “Bro,” showing that he’s genuinely surprised to see Askren moving that well on the mat.

For the unversed, ‘DC’ and Askren are close friends and have known each other for years. Because of that, they never shy away from trading playful banter. And now that Askren looks back in form, the former UFC fighter continued the trash talk and called his friend “unathletic.”

Ben Askren was surprised by Daniel Cormier’s achievements 

 Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren developed a friendly relationship when they represented the 2008 Olympic team, which also included Henry Cejudo. While ‘DC’ wrestled primarily in the light heavyweight division, ‘Funky’ competed at welterweight. Over the years, they continued training together, even after both transitioned from freestyle wrestling into MMA. 

Since Cormier was always the bigger guy, Askren often joked about it. He even teased that he still couldn’t believe how ‘DC’ achieved so much in both wrestling and MMA, despite not being that athletic, and on the recent Flo Wrestling podcast, he has kept that banter alive. 

‘Funky’ said, “Honestly, I don’t think if we have ever wrestled, wrestled, like really 100% wrestled. I know we played around at some training camp. Ugh, ‘DC’ is a chunky b—tt. He had me by about 70 pounds then, cause he was about 240, and I was probably low 170. So, I  don’t know that it’s a fair contest, but all in all, I believe I’m a significantly better athlete than he is. You know, it is really impressive. Speaks to his work ethic that he has made it so far being so unathletic.”  

Well, that was definitely a classic banter between two old friends, but it’s not surprising. The former two-division champ was one of the most devastating fighters of his era. Sure, Daniel Cormier might not look like the most athletic fighter ever, but he used to ragdoll opponents inside the Octagon. So, even if ‘DC’ wasn’t athletic in the conventional sense, he was absolutely a menace to deal with at that time.

That said, what do you think about Ben Askren returning to full health and moving well again after dealing with months of illness? Let us know in the comments section below.