In October of 2018, the MMA world was left stunned by a first of it’s kind trade that saw two big names in the sport switch promotions. The UFC gained the trash-talking and controversial Ben Askren with the promotion’s former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson going the other way and joining ONE Championship.
From a basic view, it appears that ONE got the better of the deal. “Mighty Mouse” still had years of elite level competition in him after fighting for the last time in 2023 and during his time in the promotion, he produced some of their biggest moments, was a great ambassador for them and remained one of the greatest to ever do it.
However, though Askren would only fight three times inside the Octagon, he created a lot of interest for his two fights against Robbie Lawler and Jorge Masvidal in particular and though Johnson was loved by hardcore fans, he didn’t have that same draw that bringing Askren in created, even if it did only last a short time.
During a recent episode of Johnson’s MightyCast, he was joined by Askren as the two men spoke about the details of the trade and the time they spent in both promotions. The flyweight GOAT started off by outlining his thoughts on how it all played out which Askren quickly agreed with.
My standpoint, I said everybody won. I got to go to ONE Championship, make good money. You got to come to UFC, get the opportunity to fight and see if you can do it there.
With Johnson referencing those big fights and moments that Askren created during his time in the UFC, “Funky” then responded by talking about how ONE didn’t lose any of the interest that Askren brought to the table because at that point, he was already retired unless an opportunity like the UFC landed on his table.
I mean ONE Championship, the thing that was golden for them is like I wasn’t gonna fight. I was done. If you stay in UFC, I’m assuming you’re going to continue to fight at least for a while until you don’t enjoy it enough to be done and in ONE Championship, I was legit done. I wasn’t fighting anymore and so they essentially sold an asset that was off market and you had a five-year run.
