Ex-MMA star Askren on mend after lung transplant

MILWAUKEE -- Former Olympic wrestler and MMA prima Ben Askren, who has been hospitalized successful Wisconsin aft a terrible lawsuit of pneumonia, said successful a station connected societal media Wednesday that helium had undergone a treble lung transplant and is successful recovery.

Askren said during the Instagram video that helium recalls precise small of what happened implicit a monthlong agelong from precocious May done the archetypal 2 days of July. His wife, Amy, had said successful a bid of societal media posts that Askren was enactment connected a ventilator successful June and placed connected the donor database for a lung transplant connected June 24.

"No recollection, zero idea, nary thought what happened," Askren said of astir of the past six weeks. "I conscionable work done my wife's journal. It's similar a movie. It's ridiculous. I lone died 4 times, wherever the ticker stopped for astir 20 seconds."

Askren said helium mislaid astir 50 pounds during the 45-day stretch.

"The happening that was astir impeccable to maine was each the emotion I felt," Askren said. "It was astir similar I got to person my ain funeral."

The 40-year-old Askren was calved successful Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but has lived chiefly successful Wisconsin, wherever helium runs a younker wrestling academy. He won back-to-back NCAA titles astatine Missouri and competed astatine the 2008 Summer Olympics for the U.S. earlier moving into MMA, wherever helium fought for Bellator and ONE Championship earlier moving into the UFC.

Askren retired from MMA aft a nonaccomplishment to Demian Maia successful October 2019. He had a grounds of 19-2 with 1 nary contest.

Askren made a little instrumentality to combat sports successful April 2021, erstwhile helium fought societal media prima Jake Paul successful a boxing match. Paul won by method knockout successful the archetypal circular of a combat that sold astir 500,000 connected pay-per-view.