Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal becoming friends really was super necessary.
Nearly six years after they met at UFC 239 when Masvidal scored the fastest knockout in promotional history in just five seconds, Askren revealed that he met his old rival for dinner and they mended fences. The infamous knockout came after Masvidal and Askren spent weeks exchanging some nasty trash talk and the disdain between them wasn’t settled even after the fight ended.
On that night, Masvidal opened with a jumping knee
that blasted Askren and sent him crashing to the canvas in a heap with “Gamebred” landing a couple more punches before the referee could rush in to intervene. But after Askren endured a terrifying health scare this past year where he was placed a medically induced coma before receiving a double-lung transplant, Masvidal reached out with hopes they could get together for a talk.
“Well I suppose I learned last summer that life is short, definitely too short for holding grudges,” Askren wrote on Twitter. “So when Jorge Masvidal said he wanted to sit down and break bread of course I took him up on it.
“Today he came to Wisconsin, sat down had some dinner and chatted it up. Turns out we have more in common than different. Felt great to bury the hatchet and make a new friend. Life is too short to hold grudges, bury hatchets and move one with your life. So glad Jorge was able to come to Wisconsin today.”
Askren, who retired just one fight after his loss to Masvidal, has spoken candidly about his recovery from the lung transplant surgery after he spent several weeks in the hospital. Since his surgery, Askren has been active again coaching wrestling and even serving as one of the matchmakers at Real American Freestyle.
As for Masvidal, he also retired from competition but then announced plans for a comeback, although his planned return to the UFC hasn’t actually happened. Instead, Masvidal recently teased a potential return to boxing after he went to war with another old rival in Nate Diaz while also relaunching his Gamebred Fighting Championships series with a heavyweight tournament kicking off in April.
