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Ben Askren wasn't exactly sure what his body was capable of doing before he stepped onto the mats at RAF 11.
Askren has wrestled for most of his life; however, Saturday's match against former UFC champion Belal Muhammad was his first (and only) time competing since a miraculous recovery from critical illness and a double-lung transplant. When the match was announced, many didn't know how to feel about it, including Askren's podcast co-host, UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier.
"I was nervous for you before the match," Cormier said on "Funky and the Champ." "I didn't know that I loved you going to compete after that, but I think after watching last weekend – one, you just literally showed that you're Ben Askren, and you f*cking can do just amazing things – congratulations. But also, I think you kind of showed people not to be limited by stuff, right? You can never become a victim to your circumstance."
The match took place as scheduled, and Askren said he felt fine on the day of the event. So much so that he said he felt "normal" for a little while, but he also made sure to be aware that his body is not what it used to be. Muhammad ended up winning the match, but for Askren to just get onto the mats to compete was a huge win, and perhaps an even bigger relief that nothing bad happened.
"It was amazing," Askren said. "If you were to write a script, the only way you could have written a script better would be if I was able to kind of hold him off in the third period, right? I get a lead, he's coming back, I'm battling, I held him off – and my body just didn't have that one in it. So, besides that it was great.
"The crowd was really tremendous. It was powerful. RAF did a great job with the presentation, the production. It was awesome."
Getting in shape to compete was a huge hurdle that Askren had to clear. He was on death's doorstep last July, and was nearly gone four times. A year later, he managed to build his body back up to wrestle against an active former UFC champion. It's an incredibly inspiring story of resilience, but even Askren admits he didn't know what his body was capable of handling, and told Cormier he was disappointed that his cardio level didn't meet his expectations.
"I didn't know if I could wrestle hard for six minutes," Askren said. "When I got the lead and then Belal came out in the third and started pushing me hard, I was like, sh*t, I don't have anything left. There's nothing left in the tank. I knew I would compete to the best of my abilities. I knew I would try as hard as I could, so I wasn't ever really worried about that. If you can have a lot of faith in that, then usually you're OK with it.
"... I actually misspoke in the post-fight thing, I said my lungs hurt and my legs hurt. I was so tired, I meant to say my lungs didn't hurt. My legs got so tired that I just couldn't stand up, but that was normal, because that's how most of my workouts went for the past six to eight weeks. I was trying to really push myself on the aerodine, and my legs would give out before my lungs would."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ben Askren says legs, not lungs, failed him in RAF 11 farewell match
