{"id":547309,"date":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T00:57:12","slug":"jorge-masvidal-inspired-by-former-rival-ben-askren-in-first-comments-since-viral-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547309\/","title":{"rendered":"Jorge Masvidal &#8216;inspired&#8217; by former rival Ben Askren in first comments since viral reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC rivals Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren were at the center of one of MMA\u2019s \u2018feel good\u2019 stories of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Former UFC star Ben Askren overcame a lot of obstacles outside of combat sports last year. After a bout of Pneumonia combined with a Staph infection left him in a coma, Askren was able to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ben-askren\/ben-askren-hilarious-story-cursing-out-nurses-during-hospital-stay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">make a miraculous recovery<\/a> despite the initial odds.<\/p>\n<p>As Askren continues to inspire thousands with his bounceback, the former ONE and Bellator champion reunited with one of his biggest rivals and buried the hatchet of their long-standing feud. Askren and inaugural BMF titleholder Jorge Masvidal shared a heartwarming reunion at Askren\u2019s home in Wisconsin, and the two former foes took pictures together as shared in a viral social media post.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time since meeting with Askren, Masvidal has opened up about what he\u2019s described as a life-altering experience.<\/p>\n<p>Jorge Masvidal details \u2018coolest moment of his life\u2019 reuniting with Ben Askren<\/p>\n<p>During a recent episode of his <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/2qygcetOwhk?si=peL3TxakFGfIJOKN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Death Row MMA<\/a> podcast, Masvidal opened up on squashing his years-long feud with Askren at his Wisconsin home.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve got nothing but respect and admiration for this guy\u2026he called me, got in contact with the group, asked us to come out for his Baptism and it was one of the coolest moments I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Masvidal said of his reunion with Askren.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just never thought in a million years I\u2019d look at Ben for inspiration, a motivating figure in my personal life. I had just had Staph 8-10 days before [Ben did], and then I found out Ben as going through it\u2026that really opened up my eyes to what life is about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was one of the most humbling experiences of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, Askren hasn\u2019t ruled out potentially returning to combat sports in a Real American Freestyle wrestling match. Meanwhile, Masvidal has repeatedly teased a return to MMA after announcing his retirement at UFC 287.<\/p>\n<p>What are your favorite fights from Ben Askren and Jorge Masvidal\u2019s careers? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC rivals Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren were at the center of one of MMA\u2019s \u2018feel good\u2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,42485,786,26786,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-547309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-askren","tag-fighting","tag-jorge-masvidal","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}