Ben Askren : Speakers & Interviews

I love wrestling. But with the new coin flip rules in Greco, it has become the world's most boring sport. And with the clinch to decide the tie in Freestyle, luck plays far to big a part. And while I'm at it, why is the second point scored more important than the first. The rules suck. Bring back overtime.

Number one, folkstyle is by far the best and fairest style of wrestling. Number two, wrestling will always have a hard time raising sponsorships because........Its a terrible spectator sport. Especially if you don't understand it.

Why is mma even an option? Go get a real job and contribute to society as opposed to getting 50 tatoos and training MMA. I hate MMA IT IS KILLING OUR SPORT!

If he can get squared away on his feet, Askren would be a beast in freestyle.

Ben Mizzou is still proud of you how many wrestlers can say they won a match in the Olympics.I hope you think about regrouping for 2012,I still think you can medal you are a talented wrestler.

gormley
i appreciate the point you are making but people have been saying this for years with wrestling. i'm not old but have been around the sport for a long time. corporations just don't care about wrestling. it's not gonna put them in the spot light.

The Cuban is not a winner because he has only won multiple bronze medals. I am amused that Askren would make this statement on the heels of his convincing loss to the guy. In the past, he has been ungracious in victory. Is it surprising that he is ungracious here in defeat? He's young and hopefully he'll grow out of this. I would like to see the guy humbly hit the mat and take a shot at the World's best next year. I wish him the best.

Gormley, of course you are. I would not expect you to say anything else but that. You are making a blanket comment and do you have any knowledge what any of the associations are doing with corporate America. It is easy to make comments on a message board or comment on a blog. It is another to actually step up and do it. Here is something novel: Why not take your expertise and offer some suggestions to USAW and any other group because you have the answers.

MP

That's what SALES is all about and that is why salepeople are overall the highest paid professionals.
USA Wrestling needs to hire one or two highly trained Sales Professionals who will make a plan and they WILL be successful.
Why don't I do it? Because I am presently making a phenominal living in Sales. If USA Wrestling wants to pay me to do it, I would do it and be successful at it.
Is it easy?, No, but either is wrestling. Can it be done? Without a doubt!

Gormley if it is so easy to go to corporations to raise money, why don't you make yourself available and go do it. I will guarantee you will not get very far. Why do people think it is so easy to get corporations to write big checks?I can promise you it is not that easy. Companies are not lining up and wanting to write checks for wrestling.

Matt R is right on with what he is saying.

Matt R

The point is that USA Wrestling needs to hire professional sale representatives to "knock on corporate doors" .
Proactive sales professionals will be able to raise huge $$ from private corporations.

dont know if he can get it done in mma. just seems strange imagining ben askren throwing or taking a punch. i know alot of talented wrestlers who just arent cut out for it. bens a smart guy, just have to take it for granted he knows what the heck hes doin.

Matt R, there isnt a good reason why just excuses why wrestling hasnt made it. Other sports have been better managed than wrestling.

gormley, those are nice thoughts but the reality is that wrestling is not ever gonna be a sport where corporate sponsors are knocking down the door to sponsor athletes and pay big $$. it would be great if it would happen but the chances are slim to none.

If Ben can begin making $$ in MMA immediately, why not do it?

Wrestling leadership is dropping the ball ! They should be out SELLING wrestling to the sponsors that have the $ and passing the $$ on to the comitted athletes. USA Wrestling needs to be out there raising BIG $. They need to have skilled people out there pounding the "corporate pavement" full time signing up big corporate sponsors.
The athletes that are training for 2012 should have the $ for an ABOVE AVG lifestyle while they are training to represent the USA.
We need to pressure USA Wrestling to start running our programs like a business.

Although it obviously is his decision, I'm disappointed in Ben, my hero and role model for the past few years. It feels like he is quitting which does not seem right for him. What about all the people that say that Russia is better than us because their champs stick around and do it over and over again? Come on Ben. Keep the hope alive and give us something fun to watch in wrestling.

And Brandon,are you serious? Why you gotta hate on Martin?

i don't know. seems it doesn't matter what you do. look at the cejudo interview. all the haters had to talk smack on him also.
like i said before, get rid of the stupid folkstyle stuff.

BA puts himself out there with his comments. When you do that, you are opening yourself up for the cynics if/when you lose.

he's probably just feeling down from his performance and not wanting to consider 4 more years of training. i'll bet he sticks around for 2012. i don't see him as the "one and done" type of guy. mma is probably a better move than wwe like angle and lesnar did.

I think the cuban intrduced ben to the reall world,he doesn't even mention 2012 Olympics.It seemslike his drive is gone.The MMA sucks I think It's degrading for a top notch college wrstler to even think about it.It's for street fighters,and I really don't think Ben is cut out for it.The reall world is a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

why is everyone hating on ben askren. you have to have confidence to win in wrestling. ive watched guys lose on the big stage before and just imagine if you were in his shoes. he obviously feels like s h i t and all you people are obviously good enough to critique him. what have any of you ever done.

MMA is killing our sport? Wow, reason number 1001 as to why wrestling is dying? I personally think MMA is only helping wrestling, and that should continue to happen with more high profile wrestling names having success in MMA.

This is why US wrestling is in trouble. Russians have B Satiev that puts in 4 Olympics and we have Ben Askren who sounds like he's putting in 1 only. Gee, grind out another 4 years of travelling and training and living off ramen noodles with a chance to maybe win gold in 2012 or go MMA and be a millionaire by the time Satiev wins his 4th Olympics? Come on people, mma is killing our sport!

That is seems like his desire for gold ended with a single loss -- this is what prompted me to write that about Heskett.

That Heskett had heart problems or he would have been our rep in Bejing.

Riding the fence will get your nuts squished.

Askren will get smoked in MMA

your a dummy anonymous, just cause the us olympic system sucks and they don't reward the american athletes like they should and the american people as a whole don't give a crap and martin sounds like a wrestling groupie when he does these crappy interviews. he sounds all hard up when he interviews his girlfriend silent h

noo! forget mma, every body wants to be mmartist nowadays. everytime i go outside it seems like 1/4 guys are wearing tapout shirts. im calling it right now, mma will sink into into obscurity. hopefully, its just another fad. dont get me wrong i use to love watching mma, but now its gotten to be too popular.

ben loses his passion

I am very sorry to say, but the Cuban is better than Ben at the moment. But Ben could improve as we all know.

jojo...
stop talking
he obvously is a fast learner and is talented
i dont see many olympians in MMA

Don't go MMA until after 2012. Whats the rush?

this guy has got to be kidding me. a brown belt..not good enough. dude, here is your wakeup call, it will take you two years to even get your purple belt in a legit school, and that is stretching it. this guy is going to get his clock cleaned in mma not because he isn't talented but because he has obviously no clue what he is getting himself into...kinda like the olympics

What do Ben Askren and Monika Lewinsky have in common?

They both took it from a Cuban

I did'nt hear any poems or bragging...whats going on? I did like hearing that he is getting into MMA. Now we can watch him get his a$$ kicked for real.

keep wrestling

what y person

that sucks for him dude. whether he was c o c k y or not everyone can still feel for him.

pathetic really, that askren is so y to think he can just win olympics and than waltz over to mma. winning olympics is a lifetime commitment for someone with true passing for the sport. Look at what happened to lawal.

He will never win a gold medal. It isn't a priority

not as y.lol

it stops right at the beginning. am i the only one?

If you were willing to try FS, why not try Grecco after you win a gold or at the next cycle?

Purefight.org huh.... looks pretty cool to me!

Sounds like Askren is more interested in MMA then another Olympic cycle of Freestyle........