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The UFC was looking to kill flyweight in 2018 and cutting every fighter that lost. Nonetheless, it was still a massive shock when the UFC traded long-time division champ Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for then-undefeated welterweight Ben Askren.
Demetrious Johnson calls UFC trade his ‘best decision’
Demetrious Johnson’s pro MMA career is winding down, so he took some time to reflect on that major moment in his career.
“When I was going into that final fight with Henry Cejudo, the time where the UFC was at with the flyweight division, I’d already defeated everybody,” Johnson told former UFC champion Rampage Jackson on his JAXXON podcast (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I just did my 11 consecutive title defenses and I was going to fight Henry Cejudo. So it’s another rematch. I had a rematch with John Dodson, a rematch with Joseph Benavidez, now it’s coming to the rematch with Henry Cejudo.
“So I’ve already gone through the whole division and now I’m about to fight Henry Cejudo the second time. … They would never let a flyweight at my time make $500,000. That was like the standard pay for a mixed martial artist, for the champion. If you became champion, it was like, you got that five bills plus pay-per-view points.”
“For me, they would never give that to me. And when I lost to Henry Cejudo [my then-management and I] were talking and we were like, ‘What are you going to do, bro?’ I was like, ‘You know, I want to see if they’re going to let me go.’ Because at the time they were talking about getting rid of that division, ‘I’m going to scrap it, it don’t make no money.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, let me see if I can get out of my contract.’ They were able to make it happen and they traded me for Ben Askren and I think it was the best decision that I ever did in my mixed martial arts career.”
Dana White had no regrets
On the Octagon side of things, Ben Askren had 3 UFC fights before retiring on a win and two losses.
Despite his ultimately lackluster record inside the Octagon, and lots of past animosity, UFC president Dana White had no regrets about trading what many consider to be an all time MMA legend for a man that never even managed to contend for a UFC title.
“No regrets, whatsoever,” White told reporters at an October 2019 press event shortly after Askren’s loss to Demian Maia (transcript via MMA Junkie). “That fight was incredible over the weekend. Loved that fight. Fun fight to watch. Ben brought a lot of hype to the UFC. People were excited about him coming in and fighting and seeing what he could do.
“The fight with Ben and Masvidal was what built Masvidal into what he is right now and going into this weekend. Without Askren, that doesn’t happen.”
Johnson last competed at ONE Fight Night 10 back in May of last year, where he defeated Adriano Moraes in a trilogy bout to retain his bantamweight championship belt. No word yet on when Johnson might return to action, in August of last year the 37-year-old suggested he was still undecided as to whether or not he would fight again.