Ben Askren built a career in amateur wrestling and MMA complete with a wide array of highlights, and he has now added another with his new book.
Askrenâs Funky: My Defiant Path Through The Wild World of Combat Sports is thorough and precise in its storytelling, building in compelling fashion to his UFC debut. It captures the essence of Askren, detailing his journey as a child when he was not particularly talented at wrestling, yet remained resolute to put in the work necessary to achieve greatness. The book also walks readers through Askrenâs path to the Olympics and goes in-depth on his ill-fated boxing match against Jake Paul.
âThe book is entertaining,â says Askren, who poured two years into crafting the book. âYouâll learn something, youâll gain some knowledge, and youâre going to enjoy the story.â
Askren was undefeated in MMA for a decade. That included a controversial victory in his UFC debut against Robbie Lawler in March 2019. Four months later, he stood on the wrong side of history as Jorge Masvidal knocked him out in five seconds with a legendary flying knee at UFC 239.
âThat loss, itâs obviously not ideal,â says Askren. âBut it happened. I donât let it consume me. I was undefeated, I was kept out of the UFC by Dana White, and I finally broke in. All I had to do was beat Jorge Masvidal to get a title shot. And I totally messed it up.â
Following an MMA career where he lost only two of his 22 bouts and became welterweight champion in Bellator and ONE Championship, Askren took a calculated risk in 2021 by stepping into the boxing ring against Jake Paul. It did not end well, with Askren losing the bout by TKO in under two minutes.
âThe unfortunate reality of the situation is Jake Paul was a much better boxer than I anticipated,â says Askren. âI was coming off the hip surgery, I was so fat, and I was just getting back into shape.
âThere were very few moments in my career when I wasnât pursuing a takedown. That was my strategy. Boxing was never my forte. I was hoping he sucked. I thought heâd hit me, it wouldnât hurt, heâd gas out, and Iâd beat him up. I gambled wrong on that one.â
His honesty is endearing, as is the storytelling throughout the book. Askren does not mince words or opinions and gives a very enjoyable account of his noteworthy career.
âThatâs the way I live my life,â says Askren. âI try to say it like it is. When you fail, you get back up and bounce back. I donât live in fear of failure, and I donât run from failure in this book.â
Bed time stories? Ben time stories?
In for all the crybabies who canât handle this reality.
3, 2, 1âŚ
Life after fighting long was on Ben Askrenâs mind well before he retired.
Askren, a highly decorated collegiate wrestler and 2008 U.S. Olympic team member, ended his mixed martial arts career with the UFC, where he made waves and rose to stardom in just three octagon appearances.
Askren (19-2-1) retired from MMA in 2019 and secured one final big payout competing when he made $500,000 to box Jake Paul in 2021.
âI was an avid reader growing up, and I realized most athletes end up poor,â Askren said in the interview series âDad Saves America.â âAnd this is true as a fighter, and obviously we donât make as much money as an NBA or an NFL player, but you realize â like so in my last MMA fight, I made $300,000, right. But like for me to do that again, I donât have an easy way to make that much money again.
âWhereas the fighting was like one fight, I show up, boom, check, there you go. But for these fighters, they get to this point where, OK, they say, âAll right, Iâm gonna retire. Iâm done with training. My bodyâs beat up.â So then they retire and then they realize like, wow, making that much money in the real worldâs like really hard, and I didnât save enough.â
Making that much money leads to a certain type of lifestyle, but Askren said the hard part is maintaining it. Thatâs why many retired athletes get lured back into competition, and 38-year-old Askren never wanted to end up in that predicament.
âI think that was something that was really on my mind as I fought, is I want to have something I want to do when Iâm done, and I want to be financially stable enough where Iâm never forced to fight again if I donât want to,â Askren said. âI think thatâs a place where a lot of fighters and athletes end up.â
Ben is a smart dude.
I read a few of these MMA books when they first started coming out and they come off as ghost written to a painful degree, so it kind of turned me off to them. Hopefully he crafted a fair amount of this book cause he is an interesting and articulate cat.
*except for Matt Hughesâ book which is a comedic masterpiece and I know he wrote every word cause he included a photo of himself with spectacles on sitting at a typewriter
Is he still pushing crypto? Wonder how many people lost money due to his advice.
In.
This will be a great read.
Bellator days especially as he picked up solid wins and became Champion, people talked so much shit about him on forums I recall.
Why would you take finance advice from a guy who got punched in the face for a living? Lol
Have you seen how large Askren wrestling is these days? Heâs doing something right.
he used a 4th tier (at best) sport full of non athletes to make a decent amount of bank and support his legitimate goalsâŚ
donât get it twistedâŚ
That clown show of a âfightâ against Jake Paul kind of tarnished his legacy imo.
The ring announcer even got his name wrong when they were announcing the corners.
Hughes book was god awful, so Iâm guessing he actually DID write it himself.
Time to get wet!!
Coutureâs book was okâŚI stopped reading fighterâs life story books shortly after that
tarnished his legacy?
does anyone other than forum nerds really worry about legacy in a âsportâ like MMA?
Pretty sure Chael wrote his own book.
Well, when i hear âBen Askrenâ nowâŚthe first thing i think of is that shit show lol.
It was an embarrassment