Ben Askren says it’s “highly unlikely” he will take another MMA fight, but would consider it if “the right opportunity presented itself”

Ben Askren is ending his retirement to box Jake Paul on Saturday night, and given he’s getting back into combat sports, many wondered if he would return to MMA.

When Askren retired in November of 2019, he cited a hip injury, however, he said he was just retiring from being a professional fighter, and would take one-off fights. That is exactly how the Paul fight came to be. It’s a unique opportunity where Askren gets the chance to beat up a YouTuber for a ton of money.

Askren, however, says he doubts he makes the walk to the Octagon or competes in MMA again.

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“Highly unlikely,” Askren said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com about a possible MMA return. “If the right opportunity presented itself I would consider that opportunity but I don’t think so.”

Although Askren doesn’t want to do any more MMA fights, he did say he would be open to having another boxing match after Saturday.

For “Funky,” he’s only interested in fun opportunities and not having to train all the time as a professional fighter.

“When I retired from fighting, I said I never wanted to make a career out of fighting again. But, it’s like, I needed a reason to train anyway. I had my hip surgery on September 1. December 1, I rolled around and it’s like I can finally start working out,” Askren said. “I was really heavy, I was like 216, I needed to lose some weight, I’m fat as shit. For me, I can’t lose weight for no reason, so I needed a reason. It’s been fun for me and with boxing, I’m learning something new which is fun. I’m not going to do three boxing matches a year or nothing, but if I call out some other dope, YouTuber and will fight him next year, yeah. I’m not going to 20 of them but I might do two or three.”

Do you think Ben Askren will ever fight in MMA again?