Ben Askren was a two-time Div I national wrestling champ, 3rd all time for pins, and an Olympian, before the started MMA. He won the Bellator welterweight championship in his 7th fight, and defended it successfully four times. “Funky” won the ONE Welterweight Championship in his 14th fight, and defended it successfully four times.

Then he retired but was eventually traded to the UFC. Askren won his debut vs. Robbie Lawler, then lost the fastest KO in league history, got choked out by Demian Maia, and retired for good.

In a recent video on his social network, Askren talked about what he would have done differently.

I never really had a great jiu-jitsu coach until really the end of my career when I found Marc Laimon. I really enjoyed him,” said Askren. “But before that, there was really a mix of different jiu-jitsu coaches at [Roufusport], and I think that my potential to choke people out went untapped. I was the best pinner in the modern era of college wrestling, and I think if I would have went to work with, say, the Danaher Death Squad or Marcelo Garcia, I could have really tapped into that at a much higher level. But then at the same time, I really liked being coached by Duke, that was going well, and I always thought, ‘Hey, I’m good enough on the ground. I need to work on the striking end of the takedowns.’ I always thought, ‘Hey, I’m going to be done in a couple of years.’ And then it just ended up so happening that I fought until effing 2019.

If I would have put some more time into jiu-jitsu, I think I could have gotten better choking people. But, hey, that’s how it goes sometimes. That’s what I would have done a little bit differently had I been able to go back and do it again.

As far as the career path I took, had I been able to foresee the future, I don’t think [I’d change a thing]. When I was 3-0, and Bellator offered me that deal, I thought that was a really great deal. I thought it was an outstanding opportunity, which it was. Right? My time in Bellator went really well, and at the end of that, when my negotiation came up, it didn’t work out with Dana and the UFC. To this day, I still don’t know why. So I couldn’t change that.

I found a great home in ONE Championship. Everything went well there. I retired, I came back, so from that perspective, I wouldn’t change anything.

https://twitter.com/Benaskren/status/1292937211986563079

h/t Simon Samano for MMA Junkie