In 2018, one of the most unexpected things in MMA history happened: the UFC to ONE championship in exchange for the former welterweight world champion .
It was the first and only trade between major MMA promotions and sparked much debate among fans as to who “won” the trade. And six years later, the two participants believe there is a clear answer.
“My position is that everyone won,” Johnson told Askren . “I have to go to ONE championship and make good money. You have to come to the UFC, get the opportunity to fight and see what you can do there. The UFC got hold of you and you were very good at making a splash. Your shit talk was actually intelligent shit talk. You would make very good snippets. So if it wasn't for you, they might not have made the climb without that flying knee… Without that flying knee, Jorge Masvidal, “Street Jesus,” would never exist, then you wouldn’t have done it you wouldn't have done that .
“Then look at ONE championship, they had me, I could fight, I got knocked out there to show that their competition is actually real. Then I come back and hit Adriano [Martins]. So I think overall everyone won. What do you say?”
“That’s the right answer,” Askren replied. “A championship, the golden thing for them was that I didn't want to fight. I was done. If you stay in the UFC, I expect you'll keep fighting, at least for a while. And in ONE championship I was really done, I wasn't fighting anymore, so they essentially sold an asset that wasn't on the market – you had a five-year term. I think you've done some grappling matches, you've done a mixed rules match, you've done MMA, you've done a lot of things there.
“I think the most correct answer is that everyone won. I got what I wanted, you got what you wanted.”
For Askren, the trade came as a complete surprise. “Funky,” a former Bellator welterweight champion, quietly hung up his boots in 2017. However, he remained signed to ONE, and as he explains it, this trade was exactly what he was waiting for to bring him back.
“I had given up the title because I was retiring,” Askren explained. “I said, 'I'm out.' When I retired I actually didn't have much time left on my contract. But for me there was no guarantee that the UFC thing would work out because it didn't work out the first time I left Bellator in 2013. …
“But I love reading about athletes, and what I always read about athletes is that they always retire too late and they always spend too much money. When I became a professional athlete, I thought to myself, “Don't hang on too long and don't spend too much money.” And if you can do those things, you'll probably be fine.
“So I put a time limit on myself, and under ideal circumstances I probably would have retired a little earlier, but I just never had the opportunity to fight in the UFC and my time in ONE Championship was a little slow fighting, unfortunately. I didn't fight for 15 months or something. I wish I could have fought more often.
“So I retired and the caveat was that I had never been able to compete against anyone ranked higher than me. I think the highest ranked person I fought was No. 9 and I was No. 6, so if I could fight someone higher than me, I'll come back because I want that opportunity , and I left it at that.
“I never thought it would be a trade because deals don’t happen. I thought maybe one would sign someone who was really good and then I would fight that person or something like that. Or maybe they would borrow me for something because this has happened a few times. So if Chatri [Sityodong, ONE CEO] called me and said, 'Would you be open to a trade?' I said, 'Yeah, I would be open to a trade.' That's kind of the only thing I want.'
“It was easy for me, and then I think it took a few months to actually process it and get it done, get over all the hurdles, but I was on board straight away.”
With “Mighty Mouse,” however, things went a little differently. As Johnson tells it, he actually initiated the whole thing because his relationship with the UFC had broken down and after he lost his flyweight title at he wanted a change.
“I belonged to me and Matt [Hume, Johnson’s coach and ONE vice President]“It’s kind of like that,” Johnson said. “My entire career in the UFC was always, 'You're not selling enough pay-per-views,' or 'We want you to go up there and fight.' for a super fight” and I think I’ll fight TJ for the right money. Give me a million dollars and I'll fight him. What's the point of having a super fight if there's no incentive for it? …
“I felt like if an asset wasn't making enough money like it should, then they wanted to get rid of it, which I understand. At that time, people thought about dissolving the division. … If that's the case, you ask yourself: Why do I want to be somewhere where I'm the cool guy at the party but no one wants to hang out with me? Why not go somewhere where they will appreciate me? So that was the trigger for it.
“Even when I lost to Henry Cejudo, I was very upset, very distraught and very angry. But when I got home I thought: Okay, we need to think about which organization will value my skills at the highest level? I believed this was ONE championship and it turned out to be true. …
“I think it was the best decision I made in my career. If I had to do it again, I would do it again a thousand times.”
Johnson went on to have a very productive career with ONE, winning the flyweight Grand Prix in 2019 and the flyweight title in 2022 before retiring this year. Askren didn't do that well in the UFC, winning his debut fight against before suffering two consecutive defeats against Jorge Masvidal and which led to him retiring from MMA after just a year with the promotion.
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Long overdue.
Magomed Ankalaev (or someone else) has become very active on social media lately.
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This is fake news, he's been knocked out twice in his last three fights, he can't say anything about it. He is also close to being eliminated from this fight
— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM)
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Enjoy life as a champion while you can. You were a great champion, but your time is up. See you soon
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Doesn't sound great!
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Dr. “……Everything……” lmao
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I'm with DJ and Askren. It may be rare that trades are truly a win-win situation, but I truly believe that is the case in this case. DJ and Askren got what they wanted, the UFC stopped wanting him and got a star they wanted, and ONE got what they needed. I think if you asked everyone involved, they would happily do this trade again. — Meshev
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