Former UFC fighter and NCAA national champion wrestler Ben Askren revealed that he is back in the hospital due to concerns of a potential infection following his recent lung transplant surgery. Askren said he had his first checkup since returning home after the surgery, and doctors grew concerned enough about what they found to readmit him to the hospital.
“I had my first checkup this morning,” Askren said Monday in a video posted to Instagram. “They didn’t like the way the last chest tube looked. Thought it was infected, put me on some antibiotics, and then did a few X-rays. And hopefully we get this solved fast.”
Advertisement
Askren, 41, underwent a double lung transplant in late June after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia a month prior. Updates from his wife, Amy Askren, revealed that he’d been put on life support and the family was “praying for a miracle.”
Following the transplant, Askren reported that he was headed home after being released from the hospital earlier this month. His stay at home lasted roughly one week before doctors became worried about the possible infection, though Askren insisted that it was only a minor setback and not a major cause for concern.
“Stockdale Paradox: It wasn’t always going to be smooth,” Askren said, referring to the principle named for Admiral James Stockdale, who balanced his belief that he would survive with his honest assessment of difficult facts while a prisoner during the Vietnam War. “It wasn’t always going to be easy. It wasn’t going to always be all the way up. So hopefully this is a small hiccup and I’m back home getting stronger again.”
Advertisement
In recent days Askren has posted videos showing his first attempts at getting back in shape following a hospitalization that saw him lose roughly 50 pounds in just over a month.
But the risk of infection with lung transplants is especially high, as Dr. Kirlos Haroun pointed out recently to Uncrowned, in part because it is “the only transplant that’s exposed to the air with every breath.”
Organ transplant recipients must maintain a regimen of immunosuppressant medication for the remainder of the lives in order to stop the body from rejecting the new organ. That in turn leaves them at higher risk of infection and other diseases, but that infection risk is particularly pronounced with the lungs, since exposure even to a mild cold could be fatal.
Askren hasn’t fought professionally since 2021, when he lost his lone professional boxing match to Jake Paul. Prior to that, he had a decorated combat sports career, twice winning the NCAA Division I national championship in wrestling before going on to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Advertisement
Askren made his professional MMA debut in 2009 and did not suffer a single loss over the first decade of his career. After winning titles in other organizations, he signed with the UFC in 2019, where he went 1-2 over the span of three fights.
