Ben Askren returns to wrestling one year after double-lung transplant

Ben Askren will step on the mat Saturday at RAF 11 to face Belal Muhammad, just over a year after a double-lung transplant nearly ended his life.

The former Olympian was hospitalized and comatose for days in June 2025 before doctors stabilized him. Now, twelve months later, Askren told MMA Fighting the ordeal feels surreal. "I'm almost to the point where it seems like a bad dream or something sometimes," he said. "I feel like I'm just me now."

Askren's rapid recovery from organ transplant to competition

Askren spent months in rehabilitation, sometimes unable to catch his breath as his body adjusted to the transplanted organs. He resumed coaching at Askren Wrestling Academy and eventually rejoined his students on the mat, though he never planned to compete again. He tested himself in a six-minute match against a high schooler in late March, wrestling conservatively out of fear he would collapse before the final bell. When he survived the bout, he began training in earnest for a return.

Doctors cleared him after his one-year checkup two weeks ago and reduced his medication load. Askren said his aerobic capacity has improved every week for the past three months, setting new records on the stationary bike each session. "Your life absolutely changes forever but just because it's different, doesn't mean it can't be great still," he said.

Muhammad has called the matchup a lose-lose scenario, but Askren dismissed that framing. "It's just a wrestling match," he said. "One of us is going to win, one of us is going to lose." The event falls on Askren's birthday in his hometown of Milwaukee, timing he described as too perfect to pass up. He confirmed Saturday will be his final wrestling match.

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• MMA Fighting — Ben Askren admits double-lung transplant almost feels like a ‘bad dream’ now that he’s wrestling again just one year later