MMA fighter Corey Anderson isn’t just known for his accomplishments inside the cage. He’s also a man who speaks from the heart, especially when it comes to the people who’ve shaped his life.
Right now, as Ben Askren continues to recover from a life-threatening health scare, Anderson is making sure the world knows how much his friend and mentor means to him. Askren has been battling pneumonia and a severe staph infection that led to a double lung transplant. He’s currently hospitalized, and while updates have been coming through his wife Amy, the road to recovery remains long. Despite the grim situation, Askren continues to receive love from the people whose lives he’s impacted, none more vocal than Corey Anderson.
“It hits my wife more,” Anderson told MMA Fighting. “I’m not an emotional guy. Like right now I feel when you mention Ben’s name, the tears start rolling behind the eyes. Every night we do the prayer thing for him. I come in from the gym or wherever and I can hear her in there on the Zoom and every time she comes out with tears in her eyes.
“It’s just like any time we talk about the situation or someone posts [something] and she shares it to me and we start talking about it, I can see her hurting.”
Anderson’s emotions are raw, and they come from a place of deep gratitude. His entire life trajectory shifted because of one moment, when Ben Askren invited him into the world of mixed martial arts.
“Not just my career but my life, my life wouldn’t be what it was if it wasn’t for Ben,” Anderson said. “That’s not just competing. That’s my life. I met my wife because of Ben Askren. I have two beautiful kids. I have a wife. I’ve got a fight career. It’s kind of like everything I have in an adult life, it came because of Ben Askren.
“Because this guy invited me to an MMA gym and the day I walked into an MMA gym, my wife was working behind the desk that day. That’s when I first met her. Years later we ended up starting a relationship and then she moved here.”
Before their paths crossed, Anderson was a college wrestler in Wisconsin grinding for recognition. Askren, a two-time national champion and 2008 Olympian, saw something in him,something beyond raw talent.
He encouraged Anderson to pursue MMA and offered to help guide him. That moment laid the foundation for what would become a decade-long career at the highest levels of the sport, including his time as the final Bellator light heavyweight champion and now, his ongoing run with PFL.
Corey Anderson trained with Askren before landing on The Ultimate Fighter, the breakthrough platform that launched him into the UFC and put his name on the map. Even as Anderson climbed through the ranks, he never stopped leaning on Askren for guidance.
“Every time we go back home, we go visit Ben,” Anderson said. “If I have an issue in the fight game, even right now before I’ve got a fight and before I got a fight, [my wife told me] message Ben. If I’ve got anything like Ben, what can I do to promote myself better without trying to sell my soul? I’ll reach out to Ben. Anything, I reach to Ben when I have an issue.
“The two people I talk to: Ben Askren and Eddie Alvarez. The two people that’s been in the game the longest that are the biggest mentors to me that can guide me in the right direction because they’ve seen it all and they’ve done it all.”
Anderson holds on to hope as he revealed in an instagram post. Even as he gears up for his return at the PFL Africa card next Saturday, Askren is never far from his thoughts. The weight of the situation lingers, but so does the gratitude.
“[Ben Askren] pretty much brought me in a direction for the life I have from my wife, from MMA, the first MMA gym I’ve ever been in, coached me in college and got me to the NCAA National Finals,” Anderson said. “All these different things he’s done, he even gave me places to hunt for my hunting channel. It’s all because of Ben. You can’t really do nothing to help.
“I just want to call and talk to him. Even if he doesn’t say anything back. Witness to him. It’s a weird situation. You just keep praying on it and hope he comes out [OK].”
Corey Anderson’s story is a powerful reminder that some connections go beyond sport. His journey stands as a tribute to the people behind the scenes, the ones who shape futures not just with advice, but with belief.
