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Ben Askren (Photo: Arizona State)
Two-time NCAA champ. Two-time winner of the Hodge Trophy. 2008 Olympian. Emerging MMA star.
Ben Askren is all those things... and more.
Askren is the most decorated wrestler to ever come from the University of Missouri. He was a four-time NCAA finalist, winning the 174-pound crown for the Tigers in 2006 and 2007. Those same years he also won the Hodge Trophy as most dominating college wrestler. While at the Columbia, Missouri school, he scored at record-setting 153 wins, 87 coming consecutively during the course of his junior and senior seasons, 91 career falls and 29 single-season pins. He was also a three-time Big 12 champ.
The 25-year-old Askren is on his way to Tempe, Ariz., to start his new position as an assistant coach at Arizona State. On Friday, Askren came back to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, to work out with the American team... and to sit down for an interview with USA Wrestling's Craig Sesker.
Askren has taken this season off from wrestling and has focused on mixed martial arts. He’s won his first two fights and has another fight coming up later this month. He also plans to compete in a big grappling event that is coming up in Europe.
There has been talk that Askren is coming back to wrestling. He addressed that and a number of other topics during the Sesker interview.
Resources
Ben Askren official website
Ben Askren biography at the University of Missouri wrestling website
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