Ben Askren has emerged from his long slumber just a couple of days ago. The whole nation held its breath when Amy Askren announced that ‘Funky’ had been hospitalized due to pneumonia, which stemmed from a severe Staph infection that wouldn’t back down. The situation escalated as pneumonia transformed into a pneumothorax, leading to pus-filled holes forming in Askren’s lungs. They placed him on ECMO, a life support machine designed for patients battling severe cardiac or respiratory issues.

Later on, he required a double lung transplant. The wrestling community and many others joined hands to support the former welterweight champion, both financially and mentally. A few days post his transplantation, Askren shared a message that warmed the hearts of his fans. And the UFC play-by-play commentator, Jon Anik, was also one of the many who felt overjoyed with the news. 

In a conversation with Denis Shkuratov on a recent episode of Submission Radio, Anik weighed in on getting Askren’s recovery. He said, “My goodness. I love Ben Askren and I think we’re all just so thankful that he is alive and he has felt the support far and wide, not just from his inner circle, which extends far and wide, but the MMA community in droves, and not just financially. Just all the love and support that we know is ingrained within this tight-knit community. And this is sort of as severe a case as I think we’ve all experienced. And just trying to lift him up from afar as best as we can.” 

Thereafter, the famed UFC commentator recalled an incident from a recent matchmaker meeting. He recalled, “I remember a time when we used to do matchmaker meetings before we would call these fights, and either Kenny Florian or Brian Stan was with me, and I showed up to a matchmaker meeting with Joe Silva and Sean Shelby wearing a ‘Funky’ Ben Askren yellow T-shirt. And Joe Silva didn’t take too kindly to that. He told me to go back to my f—— hotel room and s— take it off or change or something, because Ben Askren was with another promotion. It was a UFC fight week. But I thought the UFC should be in the Ben Askren business at the time.” 

Nevertheless, Anik was truly thankful that Ben Askren was well and alive. After all, the former ONE Championship and Bellator champion was a friend to his dear friend, the $6M worth Daniel Cormier. Of course, there’s a long road ahead for Askren. But what he’s still looking forward to are the positive details on ‘Funky’s recovery. 

Askren’s message was what the entire fighting community was waiting for. And soon after ‘Funky’ gave the update, the former heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, had a talk with Amy Askren for some updates. Let’s see what the updates were all about. 

Ben Askren’s emotional message garners an update from Daniel Cormier

In the video that he shared on social media, Askren said, “Whenever this is all the way over, I actually just read through my wife’s journal ’cause I don’t remember anything from May 28th to July 2. No recollection, zero idea, no idea what happened. We’ll kind of go through it all. I just read through my wife’s journal. It’s like a movie. It’s ridiculous. So, I only died four times, where the ticker stopped for about 20 seconds… It was almost like I got to have my own funeral. … The outpouring of love from the wrestling community was just amazing. It felt so good.” 

On top of surviving pneumothorax and a double lung transplant, Askren woke up and gave the updates himself. But he also lost around 50 pounds in the 45 days that he was hospitalized. That means he weighed just 147 pounds following his slumber. Now, all he needs to do is follow up with the medicos and complete his rehabilitation process. 

Meanwhile, Cormier had a talk with Amy Askren, who claimed that the Askren family was pretty grateful for all the love and support that the community gave ‘Funky’. The former welterweight champion was also thankful to the family and the individual who donated their lungs to him, allowing him to restart his journey.