Teammate 'figured' Askren would retire after Maia loss

One of Ben Askren's training partners had a feeling the welterweight would step away from mixed martial arts after his loss to Demian Maia in October.

Middleweight Gerald Meerschaert, who cornered Askren at UFC Singapore, said the former Bellator champion hinted at retirement following his third-round submission defeat. Askren officially retired Nov. 18, citing an upcoming hip replacement as one of the reasons he hung up his gloves.

"I kind of figured if it didn't go the way we wanted it to go it might be a possibility, and then right after the fight he had an off-handed comment about it," Meerschaert told theScore on Monday. "Right after a loss, everything is kind of a little more heightened emotionally, so I didn't want to take it for complete face value. But I kind of figured."

Askren initially retired from MMA in 2017 during his tenure with ONE Championship. He said he would return to the sport only if he was given an opportunity to prove he was the best welterweight on the planet. Askren agreed to a deal with the UFC a year later and earned a win - albeit not without controversy - in his promotional debut against Robbie Lawler in March.

However, Askren followed the victory with two straight defeats, including a devastating five-second knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal in July.

"There's not a clear, direct path to the belt at this point," Meerschaert said. "The guy's got three kids, he's got all these (martial arts) schools he's running, and all this other stuff going on outside of fighting. ... There's not a financial reason that he has to stick to fighting, which is nice.

"Obviously, with the hip replacement, you can only do so much after that happens. It's kind of not the worst idea in the world to hang it up and maybe be like, 'All right, I'm going to move on with the next chapter in my life.'"