At 38 years old, Ben Askren has read a lot of books.
"I always loved reading about people's lives and thought you could learn a lot from people who have had the success that you want to have," says Ben Askren, former Olympic wrestler, MMA, and UFC fighter.
From wrestling at Arrowhead High School to the Olympics to his career in martial arts and time spent in the UFC, Ben has seen success in almost every way possible as a fighter.
His secret, like all the greats he has read about, Ben has never been afraid to take the road less traveled.
"I think I still have nine Ali books. I've given a lot of them away but I still have nine of them. He was willing to sacrifice three and a half years of his career, for a cause he believed in right. He didn't think going and fighting in the Vietnam War was right. So he's known as the greatest of all time but he sacrificed what should have been his best fighting years where he could have added 12 to 8 fights to his record," says Ben. "Just because that's the way it's done doesn't mean that's the way it has to be done. That's paramount to my life, almost every step along the way, even when I was a little kid."
Now, with his own story to tell, Ben is proud to put Funky on the shelves.
"You're going to see the way I did it every step of the way. I try to thoroughly dig through what are my choices. I could have done this or this way. Here's why this choice was good, and this choice was bad. I try to dig through all those things," says Ben.
A real attempt to inspire, you may be surprised at how Ben sees some of his experiences.
"I think what people appreciate is that they are going to get the truth out of me. I'm going to say it as I feel it whether it's a positive about me or a negative about me. I'm just going to say what I feel," says Ben.
Voicing the audiobook himself, you'll hear the sincerity in Ben's voice.
"I had a hard time reading it without getting emotional. Every time I think about it, it gets me emotional. When I was eleven years old I decided to quit baseball to do more wrestling because I was passionate about wrestling. If the 38-year-old Ben could go back and tell the eleven-year-old Ben what he accomplished, he would be proud," says Ben.
Proud of a young man, who chose to pursue his passion, and today looks forward to helping others write their story, their way.
