Raw Truths From The Brink Of Death – Ben Askren

Ben Askren’s double lung transplant and year-long recovery — In May 2025, Ben Askren (former MMA fighter, NCAA wrestling champion, and co-founder of the Askren Wrestling Academy) went to a Las Vegas hospital with what he thought was a back spasm, only to lose consciousness and remain in a coma for 37 days. He woke up on July 2nd having undergone a double lung transplant caused by necrotizing pneumonia that originated from a minor staff infection on his elbow. He had no memory of any of it and had to piece together what happened from his wife’s day-by-day journal.

The medical chain of events

• A small staph infection on his elbow cleared up normally, but about four days later the bacteria entered his bloodstream and caused necrotizing pneumonia — his body was essentially destroying his own lungs from the inside.
• He was first hospitalized in Vegas, then airlifted back to Milwaukee and placed on ECMO (a heart-lung bypass machine with roughly a 40% survival rate) when his lungs could no longer function.
• Surgeons performed a “clam shell” incision — splitting his chest open — and described it as the worst lung transplant they had ever seen, because much of his lung tissue had died and was stuck to the inside of his chest cavity and had to be scraped out.
• He was unconscious for about six more days after the transplant surgery itself before waking up.

Waking up and the early recovery period

• When he first regained cognitive awareness, he was delirious for roughly 10 days to two weeks, heavily medicated, and unable to walk, feed himself, or speak.
• He experienced vivid false beliefs — for example, insisting a nonexistent hospital near his house existed and threatening to walk home despite being unable to stand.
• He lost about 60 pounds of body weight (mostly muscle), bottoming out at 138 lbs, down from his retired walking weight of roughly 195 lbs. Contributing factors included complete immobility, being physically restrained at times, and prednisone (an immunosuppressant that breaks down muscle).
• He was the first lung transplant patient at his hospital to be sent home with a chest tube still in place, which later got infected and put him back in the hospital for two weeks.
• He couldn’t walk on his own for roughly two months; early progress was measured in steps (four steps holding a counter, then eight minutes of walking, then squats).

Ongoing medical reality

• He is on immunosuppressants (including prednisone and tacrolimus) for life to prevent organ rejection, which means his immune system is deliberately suppressed — making him more vulnerable to infections and requiring him to wear a mask in crowded settings.
• Dosage levels decrease over time as the body stabilizes with the new organ, and he has already seen meaningful reductions.
• The median life expectancy after a double lung transplant is about 6.5 years; the longest-lived recipient survived 38 years. Ben has set his goal at 39 years (making him 80).
• He has told his doctors he would volunteer for experimental protocols — including future stem-cell-grown organ transplants using his own DNA — if they could extend his life and get him off immunosuppressants.

How the experience reshaped his priorities

• He describes everything after the transplant as “extra” — he was already content with his life before (loving his family, coaching wrestling, running academies), so the near-death experience amplified existing values rather than creating new ones.
• He became a practicing Christian (previously “Christian adjacent” for about 16 years of church attendance).
• He became more patient and more grateful, and he has exited business investments that take time away from his family without genuine passion.
• He now evaluates every opportunity by asking whether it is worth time away from his kids and family.
• He plans to travel less for wrestling academy tournaments to be more present at home, especially since his 13-year-old daughter is now interested in wrestling.

His definition of success and legacy

• He rejects the idea that legacy is something he controls — it is defined by others, and he focuses only on what he needs to do each day to improve.
• He is wrestling again next month (RAF is coming to his hometown on his birthday) and sees his comeback as a way to show people that adversity can be met with the same mindset he had before — not just talking about resilience but living it.
• He is unbothered by how his career is remembered (the fastest knockout, being ranked sixth rather than first, the Jake Paul fight) and says he never started fighting to care what people thought.

His views on talent, hard work, and wrestling

• He does not believe talent exists — he defines it as the ability to do a complex task well, and he believes that always traces back to training.
• He acknowledges predispositions (body type, fast-twitch vs. slow-twitch muscle fiber) but argues you need only a subset of traits and can compensate for what you lack.
• He points to the Iditarod sled dog breeders who select for desire to run rather than speed or strength as evidence that drive matters most.
• He cites the Polar sisters experiment — a father who claimed he could produce chess champions and did — as proof that environment and deliberate development can override genetic starting points.
• He believes wrestling is uniquely powerful for building character because it forces humility (you will get beaten by someone better), self-reliance (no team to save you), discipline, and perseverance.
• He warns parents against pushing kids toward MMA as a career: even a perfect seven-year path to the UFC might leave a fighter with $27,000–$40,000 after expenses and taxes.

Mind his undefeated streak and comeback

• During his 87-match undefeated streak (his last two college years), he never thought about being great — he only thought about beating the next opponent as badly as possible.
• A questionnaire he sent to every NCAA Division I champion over a 50-year span asked when they went from good to great; the most common answer was some version of “I was never great.”
• His old coach’s phrase: “If you’re green, you’re growing” — a white-belt mentality keeps you improving, while thinking you know enough causes decline.
• He unretired from MMA specifically to fight someone ranked higher than him (Robbie Lawler) and was told it was risky to his reputation; he responded that he never started to care about reputation.

What’s next

• A documentary about his transplant and recovery, produced by Novo Studios (the Henrys), is coming out in fall 2026. His wife filmed extensive hospital footage, and the film aims to inspire people to live fearlessly and not worry about others’ opinions.
• He continues to run the Askren Wrestling Academy (nine locations in Wisconsin) and is involved with RIZIN/RAF.
• He posts infrequently on social media under his real name.