Former long-time UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson is considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, so it was a massive shock back in 2018 when the promotion agreed to trade him to the ONE FC promotion in exchange for Ben Askren.
Six years later after recently retiring from the sport, Johnson has spoken out about that moment and gave his assessment on which promotion got more bang for their buck after the fighter switch.
“Money wise, I think the UFC won because of how much more money they were able to generate… I wasn’t making [Dana White and the UFC] any money,” Johnson told Ariel Helwani.
“But I think just the sheer of the f***ing horse that ONE Championship got… You look at the fights I was able to produce; the knockouts, the buzz that I was able to produce for ONE Championship.
“If I wanted to, today, I could still fight. I don’t think Ben Askren could still fight. I mean, it’s easy clear that [One Championship] got the better athlete, the better fighter.”
In terms of their contribution to their respective promotions there’s no doubt that ONE FC got the better of the arrangement as Askren proved to be a flop in the Octagon,
Askren did get a debut submission win against Robbie Lawler under his belt, but even then the warning signs that this wasn’t going to end well were there as ‘Ruthless’ came close to finishing him early in that fight.
And sure enough, next time out Askren was infamously KO’d by a flying knee courtesy of Jorge Masvidal in a record time of just 5 seconds, while Demian Maia also submitted him before he retired from the sport.
As for ‘Mighty Mouse’, he went 5-1 in ONE FC, including winning their flyweight Grand-Prix and then winning the title before bowing out after one successful defense of the belt.
Check out Johnson’s full interview with Ariel Helwani below:
