Erm.... If ya didn't already know....
After nine undefeated years, the mixed martial arts career of
Ben Askren will reach an end on Nov. 24 when Askren looks to defend his ONE welterweight title in his retirement fight against
Shinya Aoki at ONE Championship: Immortal Pursuit.
While the announcement came as a surprise to many, Askren says the decision to walk away from fighting is one he has long considered, and ultimately, the 33-year-old Olympian — who last week badly outclassed Zebaztian Kadestam to retain his 170-pound title at ONE Championship: Shanghai — believes that two major points factored into his thinking.
“The first reason is because nobody retires in time,” Askren said Tuesday on
The MMA Hour. “I mean, you think about who retires during their prime, the number of athletes who do that in any sport is very small. And obviously a sport like golf, where you see Tiger Woods fall off — well, there’s not really too much damage he could take from that, right? Although when you watch him and he sucks, and you’re like, ‘God, he used to be so good, but you suck now,’ it’s kind of disconcerting as a fan, right? But then you look at someone like Muhammad Ali, who was literally my favorite athlete of all-time. The punishment he took from sticking around too long past his prime, man, I would have to say — we can’t prove it, but I’d have to say we could guess it led to a lot of the problems that he had later in his life.
“So we’re in a combat sport, it’s dangerous, and