Demetrious Johnson, Ben Askren on who gained UFC-ONE Championship commerce

In 2018, an unprecedented commerce in MMA came about between the UFC and ONE Championship, however who gained?

Former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was traded for ex-ONE Championship title holder Ben Askren. Johnson went onto seize the ONE flyweight title, capping off his profession by besting Adriano Moraes 2-1 of their rivalry.

In the meantime, Askren got here in with a bang by ending Robbie Lawler in his octagon debut at UFC 235. Regardless of then being on the receiving finish of the quickest knockout in UFC historical past courtesy of Jorge Masvidal, his means to promote a combat made him a giant star in such a brief period of time.

Judging by the way in which issues panned out, Johnson thinks each organizations benefitted from the commerce.

“My standpoint, I mentioned all people gained,” Johnson advised Askren on his “MightyCast” podcast. “I received to go to ONE Championship, make good cash. You bought to come back to the UFC, get the chance to combat, see what you might do there. The UFC received you, which you have been excellent about creating buzz. Your sh*t-talking was really clever sh*t-talking. You’d be excellent snippets.

“So if it wasn’t for you, they may not have the rise of Jorge Masvidal with out that flying knee. …With out that flying knee you’ll by no means have Jorge Masvidal, ‘Avenue Jesus’ baptizing folks arising, you then wouldn’t have Kamaru Usman, you wouldn’t have Leon Edwards. Then you definately take a look at ONE Championship, they received me, I used to be capable of combat, I get knocked out over there to indicate that their competitors is definitely legit. I come again and I beat Adriano. So I feel, all in all, all people gained. What say you?”

After shedding to Masvidal, Askren was submitted by Demian Maia in October 2019, earlier than opting to hold up his gloves. He agrees with Johnson on each events benefitting, the place his transfer to the UFC re-ignited a closing run.

“ONE Championship, the factor that was golden for them is I wasn’t going to combat,” Askren mentioned. “I used to be accomplished. In the event you keep within the UFC, I’m assuming you’re going to proceed to combat, at the least for some time. And in ONE Championship, I used to be legit accomplished. I wasn’t combating anymore.

“So, they basically bought an asset that was type of off marketplace for – and also you had a five-year run the place I feel you’ve accomplished some grappling matches, you probably did a mixed-rules match, you probably did MMA, you’ve accomplished a whole lot of issues over there, which is clearly very cool. I feel essentially the most right reply is all people gained. I received what I wished, you bought what you wished.”