Former Olympic wrestler and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Ben Askren survived the battle of his life, as he recently underwent a double lung transplant.
He shared a video from his hospital bed to update fans, saying he “died four times” during surgery.
The ticker stopped for 20 seconds,” he says in the footage, which he posted on Instagram Wednesday.
But I got the double lung transplant. I made it out to the other side of it. (I am) gaining quite a bit of strength … I was actually on the scale yesterday (and weighed) 147 pounds. I haven’t been 147 pound since 15 years old.”
Askren, who is 40 years old, said he lost about 50 pounds in 45 days. The operation came after he was hospitalized in Wisconsin after a severe case of pneumonia.
“That was a battle,” he said. “Luckily, I don’t remember most of it.”
He said he doesn’t have any recollection of his life from May 28 to July 2.
“I just read through my wife’s journal. It’s like a movie. It’s ridiculous,” he said.
But, he said, he gained an interesting perspective.
The thing that was most impeccable to me was all the love I felt form everybody,” Askren said. “It was almost like I got to have my own funeral.”
As Thursday afternoon, the video amassed more than 540,000 reactions, with friends and fans sharing well wishes.
“Looking Good Buddy,” Tony Ferguson, a fellow athlete, wrote. “Good thoughts & good energy my friend.”
Others encouraged him to “stay strong” and praised him for being “a true warrior.”
Askren was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but has lived primarily in Wisconsin, where he runs a youth wrestling academy. He won back-to-back NCAA titles at Missouri and competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics for the U.S. before moving into MMA, where he fought for Bellator and ONE Championship before moving into the UFC.
Askren retired from MMA after a loss to Demian Maia in October 2019. He had a record of 19-2 with one no contest.
Askren made a brief return to combat sports in April 2021, when he fought social media star Jake Paul in a boxing match. Paul won by technical knockout in the first round of a fight that sold about 500,000 on pay-per-view.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
