Olympian Ben Askren Joins ATT - Wisconsin MMA, BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Muay Thai

Olympian Ben Askren Joins ATT

Written by Dan Puhek

Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:00

Former Wisconsin resident Ben Askren will be focusing on training for MMA. Having already worked with an American Top Team affiliate in Missouri, he will begin training at the main school in Coconut Creek Florida.

Askren graduated from Hartland Arrowhead High School in 2002, where he was a two-time state wrestling champion. He went on to wrestle at the University of Missouri where he would become a four-time All American, twice winning the Division-1 national championship at 174lbs. This past august he competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, winning his first match against Istvan Vereb and losing his second to seasoned Olympian Iván Fundora, who took the bronze in Athens at the 2004 games.

He'll be heading down to the ATT facilities in December where the list of possible training partners is a who's who list in MMA, with 'JZ' Cavalcante, Thiago Alves, Denis Kang, Micah and Cole Miller, Alessio Sakara, Din Thomas, and that's just scratching the surface.

Askren said in an interview with MMA Weekly Radio that he's "not going to go in the cage unprepared. I'm a worker and I'm going to work. I'm going to get good at what I do. I want to get good at jiu-jitsu, get good at striking, and I'm going to go in there prepared." Askren obviously starts his MMA carreer with some advantages, so it might not be long before he makes his debut and fans get to see how his self proclaimed "funky" wrestling style translates into MMA.

Askren to Beijing

Askren Drops in Second Round

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Aaron "Tower" Toll said:

	... good luck ben
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November 12, 2008
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Dugas said:

	Arf aft Ben Askren sucks. With the notable exception of Henry, the entire 2008 US freestyle team was a bus full of losers and chumps. Askren is switching to mixed martial arts because he doesn't have what it takes to win in int'l freestyle. He prepared to wrestle for his whole life, and then bailed when the going got tough. The same will happen in MMA. Askren is a quitter.
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December 01, 2008 | url
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 November 2008 12:26