D. Johnson (left) and B. Askren are former UFC and Bellator champions. Photo: Montage SL/MMA Press
UFC and ONE Championship are close to concluding the first athlete exchange in the history of mixed martial arts. According to the website of the North American channel ESPN, the former flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson should be released to sign a contract with an Asian event, while Ben Askren will join Ultimate.
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According to information, the first attack was made by ONE, which would like to have Johnson on its fighter staff. Furthermore, the UFC was also interested in Askren coming out of retirement to be part of the organization. The agreement between the MMA franchises has not yet been concluded. However, it is close to being implemented.
Athlete swaps are common in other sports such as the NFL and NBA. In MMA this type of agreement had never been made.
On Monday (22), Askren tweeted that there was a '98%' chance of joining the UFC. With this, the fighter surprised his followers who were unaware of the agreement.
- Ben Askren (@Benaskren) October 22th, 2018
Demetrious Johnson holds UFC records of 13 wins and 11 consecutive title defenses. At UFC 227 this August, 'Mighty Mouse' was defeated by Henry Cejudo and lost the flyweight title. It is worth noting that the former champion's coach, Matt is ONE's vice president of operations.
Former Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren announced his retirement from the sport following One Championship – Immortal Pursuit. In November 2017, the fighter knocked out Shinya Aoki in the first round. At 34 years old, 'Funky' remains undefeated in MMA after 18 clashes.
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