Former olympic wrestler Ben Askren has finally received a double lung transplant after insurance denied covering the procedure.
Askren is a major fixture in the combat sports world, best known for taking the Bellator and ONE welterweight championships prior to his career in the UFC, not counting his performance in the 2008 Olympics and many other ventures.
Newbies might know Askren for his match against Jake Paul in December 2021, which he lost by TKO in the first round.
Despite his and Jake’s rivalry, the Problem Child of boxing is promising to financially support his former opponent in the wake of a devastating viral infection that insurance wouldn’t cover.
Ben Askren’s lung transplant issues explained
On July 7, 2025, fight fans were left shocked when news broke that Askren had been hospitalized with severe pneumonia due to a staff infection. Reports claimed the wrestler was “unresponsive” as his wife, Amy Askren, opened up about the situation in a Facebook post.
Amy said that Askren relied on a ventilator to breathe, as well as ECMO support to help oxygenate his blood outside of his body. Eventually, one of his lungs necrotized, leaving his medical team to deduce that a double lung transplant was needed.
On June 24, Askren was officially placed on the transplant list to receive new lungs, but his insurance refused to cover the procedure, as told by friend Mark Bader on an episode of The Balder Podcast:
“[The doctors] were basically like, look — there’s a chance we could do this without the transplant, but he would need to be on oxygen during the day and the ventilator at night, and any of us that know Ben like that’s not an option. The insurance won’t cover the lung transplant, and that’s extremely costly, astronomical costs associated with that.”
While little else has been made public about the company’s reasons for denying coverage in this case, lung transplants are extremely costly and time-consuming, which some speculate could be the reason why they turned it down.
Thankfully, as of June 30, Askren has officially and successfully undergone a double lung transplant, as told by his wife on social media.
“We are so thankful to share that Ben has received a double lung transplant,” she wrote. “We are forever thankful to the donor and his family. This is the beginning of a new lifestyle for Ben, but every new day he has is a gift. It still doesn’t feel real that he was walking around completely healthy just five weeks ago. So much can change so quickly.”
Jake Paul vows to donate to Ben Askren lung transplant
While Askren is now recovering from the life-saving surgery, Jake Paul was questioned about the situation prior to the operation in a press conference for his latest bout against Chavez Jr., where he vehemently decried the health insurance industry and vowed to support his former rival.
“Insurance is a f**kin’ scam, and it’s so sad,” Jake said. “And right when you need these companies, they’re not there, and it’s f**ked up. And his insurance denied him to get the double lung transplant, which is also one of the most expensive surgeries, which is why they denied it. And it just sucks.
“It sucks that no one is doing anything. I was obviously super busy this week, so we’re figuring out the donation now. But none of these people, like Dana [White] or anyone, are stepping in. So I feel like I have to do something. And that’s really all it is.”
This isn’t the first time Jake has taken shots at UFC President Dana White for his fighters’ salaries. In fact, Paul even invested in the UFC’s parent company, Endeavor Group, in a bid to get combatants better health care in 2022.
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