Wow. MMA continues to grow every year, and we’ve just hit a new high. We’ve yet again seen unprecedented things happen in this sport, as it grows before our eyes. For the first time in MMA history, there’s been a trade!
A trade you say? In a sport without teams? How in the world does that happen?
I will tell you, uninformed fan with good questions.
There are organizations other than the UFC in MMA. You may already know this. One of those other organizations is ONE Championship which is based in Singapore. Eddie Alvarez was a notable UFC lightweight who just recently signed a deal with ONE.
Even though it wasn’t very known, ONE has had a golden goose for the last four years. His name is Ben Askren. He was a legend in the wrestling community before he entered MMA. Now, he’s become a legend in MMA with an 18-0 record.
Askren had a long run in Bellator where he became the welterweight champion and set the Bellator record for title defenses with four. He left Bellator after going 9-0 in 2014 and signed with ONE. He compiled a 6-0 record, became welterweight champion, and defended the belt three times.
The UFC never signed him for unknown reasons, but Dana White and Askren seemed to have beef. Well, it seems that beef is over. The UFC has made a deal to trade one of their superstars to ONE in return for Ben Askren.
Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, the former flyweight champion and pound-for-pound #1 in the world, is headed to ONE. As much as the UFC pushed him, he never seemed to move the needle. As many times as we all heard Joe Rogan tell us he’s the greatest fighter he’s ever seen, it still never made him the PPV draw the UFC wanted him to be. So what did they do?
TRADE PROPOSAL
UFC RECEIVES: BEN ASKREN
ONE CHAMPIONSHIP RECEIVES: DEMETRIOUS JOHNSON
TRADE ACCEPTED
That’s really going shake things up. Ben Askren is in the UFC. Wow. It was getting close to the point where we thought Askren would never make it work with the UFC. Now, all of that is in the past, and Askren is ready to embark on a promising UFC career.
The big lingering questions are: How successful will he be, and who will he fight first?
To answer the first question, I think he’ll continue to be very successful. So successful, in fact, that his undefeated run will continue, and he’ll become UFC champion. Everyone wants to see him fight GSP or Khabib which would be great. I want to see him fight Tyron Woodley, the UFC welterweight champion. Woodley is also a great wrestler but has become champion from having devastating knockout power. It’ll be very interesting to see Askren fight someone that matches his great wrestling, and who’s capable of stuffing a takedown while also having the power to put ANYONE away with one punch.
The sky is the limit for Askren, and the options are endless for potential matchups. He could fight at catchweight, welterweight, and possibly middleweight. Askren has hit the ground running with the shit-talking and tweeting. His fame is about to explode once he gets a big fight and people see how much shit he talks and how entertaining he’ll be in the lead up to the fight.
All we can do now is wait and see who his first fight will be. I assume it’ll be a main event, but who knows? As of now, while I write this, it seems the front-runner may be Darren Till. It seems Askren wants Till, so we’ll see what direction the UFC wants to take him.