Ben Askren nearly died multiple times in a couple of hours when his heart stopped for 10-20 seconds at a time. The former ONE Championship and UFC champion needed a lung transplant after being hospitalised in early 2025 for a staph infection, which developed into a necrotizing pneumonia. However, what derailed the motion for a while was the welterweight’s health insurance, which backed out at the last moment, refusing to pay for the surgery.

His medical condition worsened so much that he had to be put on a ventilator and needed ECMO to oxygenate his blood outside his body. Unfortunately, the healthcare didn’t cover the transplant costs, which surpassed $500K, although some sources place a higher price tag. This didn’t sit well with UFC podcaster Joe Rogan, who didn’t hesitate to directly call out the American healthcare system.

Joe Rogan on the American Healthcare System

Joe Rogan brought Ben Askren to the spotlight as he discussed the insurance situation in the country with podcaster Theo Von. “Ben Askren… He had a double lung transplant. And the insurance didn’t cover it. But how? How could you not cover that?” Rogan wondered. He then went on to talk in detail about how much Askren struggled at the hospital.

“The guy gets sick. It turns out he’s a very rare—what I think was like a staph infection or some kind of bacterial infection that was eating his lungs. So they had to put him on a respirator. He was on a respirator for a long time. Then they had to give him a double lung transplant. The insurance companies didn’t cover it,” Rogan slammed the system.

Directly questioning the insurance facilities for their sole focus on financial gain, Rogan addressed the elephant in the room. He did share that Askren is one of the popular names in the MMA world. But despite that his status still couldn’t provide him the care he deserved early on, due to the insurance limitations. Owing to the overlooked illness, Askren lost over 50lbs in a matter of weeks before UFC Boss Dana White and YouTube sensation Jake Paul stepped up. A fundraising campaign was also set up as a last-ditch effort to accrue the costs of the double transplant.

Theo Von then weighed in and wondered how the retired UFC fighter’s wife was feeling during these tough times. “And then the stress—imagine his wife probably hurting for him. He’s in and out of consciousness; he has to cope with that problem,” Theo Von added. “They just want to spend the least amount of money possible, make the most amount of money possible,” Rogan didn’t mince words as he agreed with Von.

But the costs don’t quite end with a lung donor. Being on a transplant means Askren will need lifelong immunosuppressant drugs, which isn’t just a one-time cost. “That’s [transplants] so crazy because then you have to be on medication for your entire life because your body wants to reject the lung because it’s not your lung. So you have to take these immunosuppressants,”  Joe Rogan acknowledged the medical hassles. Despite these hurdles, Askren maintained a grateful and positive outlook throughout the journey.

How did Ben Askren’s back injury turn into a lung transplant?

Ben Askren’s medical trauma began with back pain, something which he reluctantly ignored. The 34-year-old revealed that he enjoyed a rolling session with jiu-jitsu black belt and Bellator MMA middleweight champion, Raphael Lovato, and wrestled the next day before he experienced sharp back pain.

Not paying much heed to it in the beginning and ruling it out of the gruesome grappling rounds, ‘Funky’ went swimming with his friends. That’s about when he discovered a ‘little spot of staph’ in his elbow, which he cleaned and washed. Regardless, the bacteria entered his bloodstream, and his condition hit rock bottom at a cryptocurrency convention in Las Vegas.

“On Wednesday, my wife forced me to the hospital. There was multiple times when it was almost over. I know one time my friends, I had two friends that were in there and like literally my heart stopped for like 20 seconds, right? And they had and I guess it happened like multiple times in a couple hours,” Askren added.

He explains waking up with two new lungs, courtesy of Dana White and Jake Paul. Putting differences and the first-round KO by Paul aside, one of Askren’s biggest rivals became the prime reason ‘Funky’ lived to see another day. Matching personal contributions with public support to his fundraisers, both White and Paul helped collect just enough for the treatment. White shared the link to the Help Hope Live campaign on his socials, helping raise $34,000 in just days.

Ben Askren also expressed his gratitude to the fans and everyone else who stepped up in support of him. It was thanks to them that Askren is back already training on the mat. What are your thoughts on the American Medical system?