Chatri Sityodtong recounts historic Demetrious Johnson-Ben Askren trade between ONE and UFC

While player trades are nothing new in professional team sports, a fighter-for-fighter swap between two competing MMA promotions was previously unheard of.

That narrative changed in 2018 when the largest martial arts organization in the world ONE Championship engaged in a never-before-seen trade with its North American counterpart UFC.

In an unprecedented turn of events, the Singapore-based promotion shipped its former welterweight world champion Ben Askren to the UFC in exchange for flyweight great Demetrious Johnson.

Needless to say, almost five years later, it’s quite clear that ONE came out the victor of that historic deal.

In an interview on the BJPenn.com’s Just Scrap Radio, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong recounted the massive trade that shook the combat sports landscape:

“It's been great. You know, DJ is still in his prime very much in his prime. You know, Ben Askren had retired for two years, he had a career-ending hip injury, when the trade had happened. And so I think it just made sense for us, you know, as much as we respect and love Ben. Demetrious was still very much on the rise in his career.”

Watch the full interview here:

Ben Askren had a dominant run in ONE Championship where he scored six career wins including three successful welterweight world title defenses.

On the other hand, Demetrious Johnson was also tearing through the competition on the other side of the globe but did not exactly receive the recognition he truly deserved simply because he was fighting in a lower-weight class.

That all changed when Johnson’s greatness truly shined under the ONE banner, where he went on to win the ONE flyweight world title and furthered his legend as arguably the greatest of all time.