Wife says ex-UFC star may need lung transplant

Former MMA champion and UFC contender Ben Askren remains in an uphill health battle.

His wife, Amy Askren, posted on Facebook that her husband is still battling severe pneumonia and is on a ventilator and ECMO support.

“I haven’t shared an update because Ben has been in limbo for a while and I was hoping to have him wake up and be the one to decide what to share,” she wrote Tuesday in a Facebook post. “I’ve had some media people contact me that they are going to share an update and I would rather it come from me.

“Ben is still on a ventilator and ecmo to support him while he heals. There are good days and bad, but on the good, they have been able to wean his sedation enough for him to open his eyes and squeeze hands. His body can’t handle coming off sedation too much yet. I’m still praying for a miracle with his current lungs, but they are currently starting the evaluation process for lung transplant.”

Askren, 40, contracted pneumonia after suffering a staph infection.

Amy, who has three children with Askren, asked for MMA fans to pray for his continued healing, and if a transplant should be necessary, a swift process from there.

The former MMA superstar was previously a two-time NCAA Division I national champion and 2008 Olympian.

He competed in the UFC at the end of his career but he was most successful while in Bellator and ONE Championship, where he was the welterweight champion.

Askren was 19-2 in his MMA career, a record that doesn’t include when he was infamously TKO’d by Jake Paul in a boxing match in 2021.

He had a contentious rivalry with UFC President Dana White during his time in the organization that boosted his stardom.