Should Ben Askren retire? UFC and Bellator vet Chael Sonnen weighs in

Ben Askren’s fighting future will boil down to how “Funky” is feeling mentally, at least that’s what Chael Sonnen believes.

Askren has dropped back-to-back bouts and was stopped in both outings. He suffered a record-setting knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal back in July and was choked out by Demian Maia at UFC Singapore. Askren recently admitted to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani that he is considering retirement.

In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Sonnen chimed in on whether or not Ben Askren should hang up his gloves.

“To think that physically it’s time to go is inaccurate by Ben,” Chael Sonnen said. “That would be inaccurate. Mentally if you wanna go do something else, Ben’s got a lot of options. He’s a very busy guy, does not sleep very much. He’s got his hand in stuff you guys don’t even know about. He’s involved in cryptocurrency and Litecoin. Ben’s doing stuff that you don’t even know about. [He] coaches not only the kid’s club, he coaches college guys with world and Olympic dreams. He’s busy, oh and by the way gets his own training and has a fight career going. He’s got options.”

Sonnen feels Askren can still be a threat in the UFC’s welterweight division, but he will take his share of lumps.

“Physically if he wants to go on, yeah,” Chael Sonnen continued. “And I don’t even really know there’s a whole lot to work on. I think he could show up the same as he showed up Saturday. He’ll get a mixed bag. They’ll be some really good wins in there and there are gonna be some rear-naked chokes slipped on him. Welcome to the sport.”

Do you think it’s time for Ben Askren to walk away from MMA, or does he still have some fight left in him? Sound off in the comments.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/31/2019.