WWE interested in Ben Askren, Details of the former UFC star's Performance Center visit revealed
Ben Askren is busy preparing for his professional boxing debut against Jake Paul, and the bout is scheduled to take place on April 17th at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Ahead of the highly-publicized boxing match, Ben Askren was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet. The retired mixed martial artist revealed that he visited the WWE Performance Center in October last year.
Ben Askren said that he had a fun time at the WWE PC, and the door for him to work with the company was left open by WWE. However, Askren doesn't see himself becoming a full-time professional wrestler.
"I went down there in October. It was fun; they were really cool... I left with an open door there.
While Askren's attention is on his amateur wrestling academy, he would still love to do something with WWE somewhere down the line. Askren stated that he is a big fan of the WWE system and praised its polished operation and setup at the Performance Center.
"I'm running my Askren Wrestling Academy business, so I don't think it's something I would do full time. But I would be interested in doing a little something with them. I really like them, everyone there was really cool, and they run a really professional operation down there. It was awesome."
Ben Askren's career
Ben Askren is a former collegiate wrestler who represented the United States in wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Asken failed to win a medal at the event and chose to pursue MMA as a career in 2009.
Ben Askren made his professional MMA debut in February 2009 and went on to string together a 20 fight undefeated streak. Ben Askren won the Bellator and ONE welterweight titles along the way, and he was viewed as the most prominent MMA fighter outside of UFC.
Askren finally joined UFC in 2018 as part of a trade that saw Demetrious Johnson move to ONE Championship. Despite a shaky start, Askren picked up a win over Robbie Lawler in his UFC debut.
During his next fight at UFC 239, Askren was stopped by Jorge Masvidal with a flying knee in just five seconds; the fastest knockout in UFC history and Askren's first professional MMA loss.
The veteran welterweight fought inside the octagon for the last time in October 2019 and suffered a third round submission loss to Damian Maia.
Where did it all go wrong for Ben Askren in the UFC?
Askren had to pay the price for his weaknesses on his feet in the UFC. It has also been insinuated that Askren may have arrived in UFC a little too late. It was pretty evident from the grappler's UFC performances that his body had started showing the unfavorable effects of a lengthy combat sports career.
Ben Askren is now 36 years old, and he can indeed make a decent payday in WWE if he finds the time for it in the future.
Ben Askren, who goes by the nickname 'Funky,' has a very entertaining personality. During many MMA pressers and on social media, Askren has proven to be quite witty and engaging with his words.
What do you think? Can Ben Askren taste some success in the WWE, or would he end up like his former UFC colleague, Cain Velasquez? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.