Undefeated ONE Championship Welterweight World Champion “Funky” Ben Askren is going to retire from MMA after his fight against former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki this November.
But that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop competing.
The Funky one was on The MMA Hour yesterday and told host Ariel Helwani that he may continue to compete in grappling:
“You know, I would like to compete in some form,” Askren told Helwani. “Just because I enjoy competing, number one, but number two to stay in shape. Maybe, you know, a couple grappling competitions each year, maybe a couple of wrestling matches here and there. Something like that because I know I’ll miss competing, but something where I’m not trying to feel like I have to be the best in the world at it, right.”
Askren then expressed some interest in the Midlands wrestling tournament, but said he would just compete in it for fun.
Until then, though, Funky Ben will be training hard for his fight against Aoki, which will take place at ONE’s Immortal Pursuit, set to go down in Singapore on November 24.
You can catch Ben’s interview with Ariel Helwani below:
