PASAY, PHILIPPINES - 2015/04/24: One Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren walks, with his belt, on to the cage during the One Championship: Valor of Champions fight night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. The main event between Ben Askren of the U.S.A. and Luis Santos was declared a "no contest" after Santos suffered an eye injury during the main title bout. (Photo by J Gerard Seguia/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

MMA Ben Askren: An afternoon with the man who could be king

Standing atop one of the many hills of Valley View Park in New Berlin, Wisconsin the sprawling canopy of tree tops ranged from deep amber hues to a vibrant red fire as far as the eye could see. To the naked eye, the rolling knolls feeding into acres upon acres of the type of beauty the northern outpost yields just before falling under sheets of snow and ice in the winter months would appear to be just another spectacular nature park, but to the aware like current One FC welterweight champion Ben Askren, Valley View is a proving ground. Every angle, turn and bend of the park represents a challenge that make his eyes sharpen and Askren has been as game as they come for as long as he can remember. While his highly anticipated rematch with Luis Santos is set to go down at ONE: Pride of Lions on Nov. 13, and is still several weeks away, the current task at hand has nothing to do with mixed martial arts or grudges. On this blustery overcast afternoon he’s come to wreck shop on the park’s disc golf course, which was a passion for him long before he ever considered strapping on the four ounce gloves for a paycheck. And one he excelled at as well. Askren twice finished ninth at the Amateur Worlds and second at the Amateur Nationals before he put his disc golf career on hold to sling leather and push his opposition to their breaking point inside the cage. An animal under the bright lights, but razor-sharp wrecking machine with a violinist’s finesse on the disc golf course…that’s Ben Askren.

Standing on the concrete slab for the first hole the wind rips through the valley and it kicks Askren’s signature locks up in a wild frenzy. The chill in the air slips down the back of his sweatshirt where his gray tee, still drenched from the strength and conditioning workout he’d just completed, absorbs the cold of the day enough to urge Askren to draw his hood up over the tangled weaves atop his head. “The wind could make for a rough one today,” he said after taking a sip from a Styrofoam cup, “but the tougher the better.” In that moment, and plenty to follow throughout the hour-long round of disc golf, facing up to adversity seems to bring something different out of the undefeated former two-time NCAA national champion wrestler. While chucking a disc 400 ft toward a metal basket draped with chains is a far cry from grinding the will to fight out of another human being inside of a cage in front of thousands of people, it’s all competition in Askren’s world. And when he’s standing in the competitive realm, anything outside of being the best is a failure in his eyes. The 31-year-old Hartland native’s first throw caromed further to the right than he’d intended, but there wouldn’t be another throw for the rest of the day where Askren’s aim wasn’t true. No matter how far the maple trees twisted out into the path or how covered the basket was blanketed by brush and thicket; Askren scorched the course like a man on a mission. “I’m feeling it today,” he said with voice mixed with pride and certainty. “I’ve played this course before but maybe this is a sign that I need to come out of retirement. Once my fighting career calms down I’m definitely getting back into it, but maybe I need to seriously start thinking about it sooner? I don’t get out here much these days with my career and two little ones at home, but damn it feels great to play a round.” The hectic nature of his current schedule makes getting out for a round of disc golf on a Tuesday afternoon difficult, and even more so considering he and his wife have two young children to care for. There once was a time where Askren could jump headlong into any endeavor his heart desired, but developments in his personal life have him thinking more like an accountant than a gladiator these days. “I’m happy where I’m at with ONE FC and that’s all that really matters.” It’s not that the former Olympian isn’t driven to prove he’s the best 170-pound fighter in the world, but after spending a bit of time with Askren it’s also clear systems and structure aren’t things he willingly rolls over for. Take his failed negotiations with the UFC for example. Once his relationship with Bellator had soured to the point where Askren demanded the opportunity to test his worth in the open market, it appeared as if the biggest stage in MMA would be the likely move. Nevertheless, despite flying out to Las Vegas to sit with the UFC brass, and the MMA community offering their public support to see Askren test his mettle inside the Octagon, a contractual relationship between fighter and promotion never materialized. When the topic comes up in conversation there is an instant and obvious bristle that comes over Askren’s face, but after a second of internal contemplation, he shrugs off the bothersome thoughts and resumes his walk to retrieve his disc from the basket he just birdied.

“I’m happy where I’m at with ONE FC and that’s all that really matters,” Askren said. “The entire situation didn’t make any sense to me, but there is nothing I can do about that now. I know ONE wants me to fight for them and that’s where my focus is at. It’s been a pretty cool experience and I get to experience new things about the culture every time I make the trip. “I have learned to get a haircut before I go though because they just don’t know how to handle this situation over there,” he concluded pointing to the bustle of light brown strands that refused to be contained by the hood of his sweatshirt. With the amount of experience Askren has compiled as an elite-level wrestler and his cerebral approach to every step he takes in his life it’s tough to see if he’s wearing a poker face when talking about the UFC situation, but even when pressed in an environment he’s entirely comfortable in, if he’s putting up a front there are certainly no cracks in it. “I’ve gone with almost all of the top fighters in the UFC welterweight division… I have a pretty damn good idea of how I’d fair against their top guys and let’s just say I like my chances.” “Does the competitor in me feel drawn to get in there with the best the UFC has to offer and test myself? Sure I can admit there’s a little of that inside of me. Why wouldn’t it be there? But I’ve been around this sport awhile now, trained in a lot of different places, and I’ve gone with almost all of the top fighters in the UFC welterweight division. While MMA is a crazy sport and anything can happen in there, I have a pretty damn good idea of how I’d fair against their top guys and let’s just say I like my chances.” And in his reply another one of his signature features comes to call as Askren’s confidence and self-belief is unwavering. But rather than other fighters who have become mainstream staples for their gift of gab and willingness to push buttons in the realm of social media, Askren’s bravado is one forged entirely out of work ethic. He’s a man who puts an intense amount of work into anything his name’s attached to, and knowing his breaking point is far beyond what most have ever experienced breeds a different type of perspective. If it’s arrogance that he protrudes it’s of the most laid back in the know variety, but only because his personal equation of hard work equals results has been proven time and time again. “I work hard because it’s the only thing I’ve known for the past 17 years,” he said. “Even if I weren’t fighting professionally anymore I would still be in the gym pushing myself because that’s how my drive works. If I grab onto something I almost become obsessive about it, and while that approach certainly has some downsides, it’s been a key to so many of my personal successes. In fighting and in business I’m going to work harder than the guy standing to my right and that’s what is going to make the difference.”