Ben Askren's health is improving gradually after his double lung transplant. The former UFC star was in terrible condition after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia.
'Funky' was put on a ventilator and almost died in the hospital. The MMA star, however, made a miraculous recovery and now looks in much better shape than before.
Askren was present at the recent RAF 04 event and spoke to The Schmo about his current health condition:
"I am doing great compared to what I was doing a month ago and great compared to a month before that, but I still got a long way to go to feel what would be called normal compared to prior to being sick."
The Schmo brought up how Askren was back to coaching and if he had started doing any rigorous activities. The former UFC star claimed that he still needs to work on certain aspects, and he is far from 100%:
"I wish I could do rigorous activities. My strength is starting to come back, my grip coming back and what not. My cardio, though, I get tired so fast running up a flight of stairs, no good. My cardio, so I don't know, I got an excuse, I almost died but I gotta get the cardio back."
Askren's condition united the combat world. His long-time rival, Jorge Masvidal, called 'Funky' an inspiration for battling through and making a recovery. Jake Paul and countless others also donated to Askren's cause.
Check out Ben Askren speaking to The Schmo about his health from 2:45:
Ben Askren had lost a lot of weight in the hospital and during an interview with Ariel Helwani, 'Funky' revealed that he had gone down to 138 pounds.
He did pick up weight after that and is inching closer to looking and feeling like his normal self. However, the former UFC star explained why the route to packing weight had been difficult.
Askren shared that food just didn't taste good. Later, when it started to taste better, he didn't want to eat much:
"I have obviously gained weight. The lowest weight I had was 138 [pounds], I'm probably 25 or so heavier than that now. Putting weight on has been difficult. At first, all the food tasted like sh**. Then even after it stopped tasting like sh**, I thought it was going to, so I didn't want it. Just dealing with issues like that. Food is finally starting to look good and taste good, so it's much easier to put on weight."