{"id":38575,"date":"2026-06-01T21:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Ben-Askren-set-for-first-combat-sports-appearance-since-neardeath-experience-201402"},"modified":"2026-06-01T21:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:56:33","slug":"ben-askren-set-for-first-combat-sports-appearance-since-near-death-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ben-askren-set-for-first-combat-sports-appearance-since-near-death-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Askren set for first combat sports appearance since near-death experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Approximately a year ago, Ben Askren<\/a>
\ncame face-to-face with his mortality. This summer, he\u2019ll make his
\nreturn to active competition.<\/p>\n

Askren will square off against Belal
\nMuhammad<\/a> at Real American Freestyle 11 on July 18 in Milwaukee,
\nWisconsin. Askren initially announced the news on \u201c“The Ariel Helwani Show,\u201d<\/a> and RAF later
\nconfirmed the booking via social media.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI was the first signee for Real American Freestyle back in May of
\n2025 prior to all my issues,\u201d Askren said. \u201cI love wrestling. I
\nlove what they’re doing. I’ve been back coaching for three months
\nor so right now on regular practices\u2026.They told me that they were
\ndoing a show in Milwaukee \u2014 I asked them to come to Milwaukee
\nbecause I knew we would knock it out of the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was July 18, and it was my birthday and I thought something
\nspoke to me and said I need to wrestle on that. So i’ve been doing
\nmy very best every single day to train and to get in shape and it’s
\nfeeling really good. I\u2019m in the wrestling room. I\u2019m wrestling with
\nthe guys. I mean, not not super hard yet, but I\u2019m doing
\nthings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting His Life Back<\/h2>\n

Last May, Askren was hospitalized with pneumonia and was placed on
\na ventilator as he came close to death on multiple occasions. He
\nwas ultimately
\napproved for a double lung transplant<\/a> and has since been on a
\ngradual road to recovery. Askren initially lost around 50 pounds in
\nless than two months, but more recently, he inquired about getting
\nback to wrestling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it started as I was getting better,\u201d Askren said. \u201cI told
\nmy doctor, \u2018Hey, man, I I want to go back to coaching practices. I
\nwant to go back to my life. I want to go back to doing what I
\nlove.\u2019 He said, \u2018You can. You have to be a little smarter. You’d
\n[have to] to take a few more precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n

A a two-time NCAA national champion wrestler at the University of
\nMissouri and a 2008 Olympian, Askren is a significant figure in the
\nwrestling community. \u201cFunky\u201d later made a name for himself with
\nstints in Bellator
\nMMA<\/a>, ONE
\nChampionship<\/a> and theUFC<\/a>
\nbefore retiring from MMA in 2019.<\/p>\n

Muhammad, a former UFC welterweight champion, made his RAF debut in
\nDecember, losing to David Carr<\/a>
\nvia technical fall. \u201cRemember the Name\u201d is scheduled to meet
\nGabriel
\nBonfim<\/a> in the
\nUFC Fight Night 278<\/a> headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in
\nLas Vegas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Ben Askren<\/a>
\nRETURNS<\/p>\n

Askren vs Muhammad July 18 in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Tickets in bio. Stream exclusively on @foxnation<\/a>
\npic.twitter.com\/h1U2o8118t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Real American Freestyle (@RAFWrestlingUSA)
\nJune 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Approximately a year ago, Ben Askren came face-to-face with his mortality. This summer, he\u2019ll make his return to active competition. Askren will square off against Belal Muhammad at Real American Freestyle 11 on July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Askren initially announced the news on \u201c“The Ariel Helwani Show,\u201d and RAF later confirmed the booking via […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}