Ben Askren reveals why MMA retirement is so difficult for fighters.
MMA fans have seen fighters retire and then un-retire so many times that MMA retirements are never quite believed the first time around.
Ben Askren, who retired in November 2019 and then returned (for boxing) in April 2021 explains why fighters have a hard time staying retired … and it isn’t for the love of the sport.
“I realized most athletes end up poor,” Askren said while appearing on Dad Saves America. “And this is the truth, as a fighter and obviously we don’t make as much money as an NBA or an NFL player, but you realize, like so in my last fight I made, my last MMA fight I made $300,000, right. But like for me to do that again. I don’t have an easy way to make that much money again. Whereas the fighting was like one fight, I show up, boom, check, there you go.”
Ben Askren says retirement is hard because athletes end up poor
“But for these fighters, you know, they get to this point where, okay, they say, all right I’m gonna retire,” he said. “I’m done with training, my body’s beat up. So then they retire and then they realize like, wow, making that much money in the real world’s like really hard and I didn’t save enough.”
Askren recently responded to an idea of him returning to MMA to fight Jake Paul at PFL. He seemed open but he understands that the UFC still holds his contract and that fight isn’t all that realistic.
Ben Askren reveals why MMA retirement is so difficult for fighters