"Still have brain damage from Jorge?" - Fans react to Ben Askren backing Elon Musk to become U.S. President

Ben Askren has suggested that Elon Musk would make for a good POTUS (President of the United States). Askren's opinion elicited mixed reactions in the MMA community and beyond.

Askren is a highly accomplished freestyle wrestler who represented the U.S. at the Olympics in 2008. The Iowa-born martial artist boasts a professional MMA record of 19-2-1.

The 40-year-old is quite vocal about his political views. 'Funky' notably criticized current POTUS Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, deeming one of their policies Orwellian back in 2022.

Additionally, in a Facebook post in 2017, Askren featured a few bumper stickers on his vehicle that comprised common terminology and phrases used by Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

In 2024, South Africa-born U.S. citizen Elon Musk interviewed former POTUS Donald Trump. Their conversation transpired on X (formerly known as Twitter), which Musk acquired in 2022. Trump is now running for the presidential office in the Nov. 2024 elections.

They discussed various topics, with Trump and Musk both expressing their disapproval of the Democratic Party's presidential hopeful and current American vice president Kamala Harris.

Taking to X, Ben Askren pointed out that Musk labeled Harris an "NPC." For context, NPC implies a non-playable character/non-player character, which a video game player can't control. It's also used as a pejorative to suggest that the given person isn't an independent thinker.

A fan replied by claiming to be a Trump voter but noting that Musk's "NPC" comment makes them want him as the president. Askren responded by tweeting:

"If Elon was president he would fix so many problems so fast"

Many netizens reacted by noting that Musk isn't a natural-born U.S. citizen. Per the nation's constitution, he would be ineligible to become president. A fan wrote:

"Agreed. Unfortunately, he can't. But, he could serve as a cabinet member."

Meanwhile, others jibed at Ben Askren by bringing up his infamous five-second knockout defeat against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 239 (July 2019).

"Still have brain damage from Jorge?"

Check out the screenshots of a few tweets below:

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Ben Askren responded to Donald Trump's remarks about Joe Rogan

On episode 2185 of the JRE (Joe Rogan Experience) podcast, veteran UFC color commentator Joe Rogan expressed his admiration for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Currently running an independent presidential campaign against Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, 'RFK' was praised by Rogan for his intelligence and civility.

On the Truth Social platform, Trump lambasted Rogan and predicted that the commentator would be booed at the next UFC event. The podcast mogul later clarified that he respected both Kennedy and Trump.

Meanwhile, former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight titlist Ben Askren took aim at Donald Trump. 'Funky' implied that the former president's remarks against Joe Rogan were uncalled for. The retired MMA fighter tweeted:

"So dumb"