White: Askren ‘was an amazing trade’ for the UFC

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Wild

Zi Nazi
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Dec 31, 2014
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In October 2018, the historic trade between the UFC and ONE Championship took place. Former UFC champion Demetrious Johnson headed to South East Asia to compete for the Singapore-based promotion, while Ben Askren headed west for his then long-awaited Octagon debut.

A year after the trade, “Mighty Mouse” has gone 3-0 at ONE Championship, bagging the flyweight title in the process. Askren, on the other hand, is on a 1-2 run.

Given Askren’s skid upon his entry into the UFC, fans are now questioning whether it was a good deal for Dana White and his fellow execs. But for the UFC president, it was still one of the best…


Dana White: Ben Askren ‘was an amazing trade’ for the UFC
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
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Dec 31, 2014
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His only losses are to legit dudes, but he also said recently he doesn't necessarily enjoying MMA. Tough call for Ben to make, with regards to retiring or not.
 

Nemo?

Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Dec 2, 2015
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Why wouldn't Dana be happy? a guy who lost the ufc belt(MM would have won a rematch on a non broken foot) goes to ONE FC and clears house, then a ONE FC champ comes to the UFC and fizzle's.

it's a win win win for the UFC.....icing on the cake is cejudo after beating MM beat dillasnake and is now champ champ and is being called the best eva.

If Ben came in and shot right to the title the way MM did I don't think Dana would be as pleased besides having him under contract now.
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
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Askren could still be a valuable commodity. People are reading too much into the Maia loss and the flash Masvidal KO.

I'm a clueless dipshit most of the time, but I was saying from the start that if Dana really wanted someone to take out Askren, Lawler wasn't the guy, Maia was always the guy. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of MMA should have recognized what a bad fight that was for Ben. Yet had Askren stuck to his initial gameplan, he still could have pulled it off.

There is only one Demian Maia. There's nobody else in the sport that represents almost a death sentence if you go to the ground. Trying to take any lessons from that fight and applying them to other matchups is a complete waste of time. Askren is still the best wrestler in the division.
 

Enock-O-Lypse Now!

Underneath Denver International Airport
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His only losses are to legit dudes, but he also said recently he doesn't necessarily enjoying MMA. Tough call for Ben to make, with regards to retiring or not.

He was talking retirement before even coming to the UFC - these last two losses could finally send him into retirement or spark a fire under his ass and make him want to rip shit up.

Either way he has a lot of options when he does retire - he could do commentating - or coach wrestling / MMA - I've seen a lot of his coaching videos on youtube and he is fantastic.


Was the trade good for UFC - in their eyes yes because they don't care about rankings or shit being legit - they care about TMZ Drama and Money ....so Ben has been beneficial to the company overall.
 

jason73

Yuri Bezmenov was right
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mighty mouse is the big winner out of this deal . he is over in ONE kicking ass and making money while receiving the star treatment that he never really got from the ufc . it couldnt have worked out better for him. ben on the other hand is no longer undefeated ,got dropped on his head by robbie,got flying kneed into another dimension by jorge ,and got choked to the point of astral projection by maia. ben has made some money and built his brand but health wise he has taken more damage in the 3 ufc fights than in the entire rest of his career combined. its probably time for ben to go do something else. he comes across like a guy who was smart enough to have saved his cash so there is no point in sticking around and taking needless damage . there are lots of better things ben could be doing . time to pack it in
 

Rambo John J

Eats things that would make a Billy Goat Puke
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he is gonna be in some rough fights for sure with his style
some real gnarly strikers out der bru
 

so long

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LOL Dana has so much more interesting 'problems' in his job that yapping Ben Askren is just an annoying fly to him.
I personally read it that Dana sincerely saying that he likes Ben (for bringing attention to the UFC) is totally putting Askren in his place. He won't get upset by him and as long as it's ok for the UFC he'll let it go on, then drop him afterwards without thinking about it like you would throw away the wrapping paper of a bubblegum.

It's a win-win-win: Dana got the attention & petty drama for the UFC. Askren surely earned money and got the chance to compete in the biggest show, even headlining cards. And the fans got the very entertaining Masvidal KO, the satisfying Maia win and I personally also liked the way Ben's hair was flapping when Lawler punched him really hard.
I do hope he shuts up now, though...
 

Nemo?

Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Dec 2, 2015
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LOL Dana has so much more interesting 'problems' in his job that yapping Ben Askren is just an annoying fly to him.
I personally read it that Dana sincerely saying that he likes Ben (for bringing attention to the UFC) is totally putting Askren in his place. He won't get upset by him and as long as it's ok for the UFC he'll let it go on, then drop him afterwards without thinking about it like you would throw away the wrapping paper of a bubblegum.

It's a win-win-win: Dana got the attention & petty drama for the UFC. Askren surely earned money and got the chance to compete in the biggest show, even headlining cards. And the fans got the very entertaining Masvidal KO, the satisfying Maia win and I personally also liked the way Ben's hair was flapping when Lawler punched him really hard.
I do hope he shuts up now, though...
realistically if he bodied up like the rest of the 170lber's he'd be a nightmare on wheels.
 

Haulport

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LOL Dana has so much more interesting 'problems' in his job that yapping Ben Askren is just an annoying fly to him.
I personally read it that Dana sincerely saying that he likes Ben (for bringing attention to the UFC) is totally putting Askren in his place. He won't get upset by him and as long as it's ok for the UFC he'll let it go on, then drop him afterwards without thinking about it like you would throw away the wrapping paper of a bubblegum.

It's a win-win-win: Dana got the attention & petty drama for the UFC. Askren surely earned money and got the chance to compete in the biggest show, even headlining cards. And the fans got the very entertaining Masvidal KO, the satisfying Maia win and I personally also liked the way Ben's hair was flapping when Lawler punched him really hard.
I do hope he shuts up now, though...
A LOT of unhealthy Ben hate right there...
 

so long

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A LOT of unhealthy Ben hate right there...
yes! :D
I have respect for any athlete who steps up, amateur/pro, win or lose.
if I think that someone is a bad person, I usually keep that to myself or at least not write stuff on the interet about s.o. I don't actually know.
EDIT: Idon't mean Ben here, rather some other athletes who are thugs. I'm sure Ben is a nice person in real life.EDIT
The only times I'm openly joyous about s.o. getting fucked up or even just taking a negative turn in their career are the trashtalkers, the loudmouths, who prostitute themselves for attention and stand against everything I like about martial arts (them and Ronda).
If they have no honor then I allow myself to make the exception and act without honor and be openly happy about them doing badly (while sitting on the couch watching, myself doing jack shit). Askren and Chael make the top of the list there. I hope Askren just shuts up. He fights with grit and took a lot from Lawler and never gave up, I have big respect for that part. Still he got boom-roasted and should just go away now. Or fight Colby, their acts cancel each other out
 

so long

Posting Machine
Dec 16, 2015
1,282
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yes! :D
I have respect for any athlete who steps up, amateur/pro, win or lose.
if I think that someone is a bad person, I usually keep that to myself or at least not write stuff on the interet about s.o. I don't actually know. EDIT: Idon't mean Ben here, rather some other athletes who who are thugs. I'm sure Ben is a nice person in real life.
The only times I'm openly joyous about s.o. getting fucked up or even just taking a negative turn in their career are the trashtalkers, the loudmouths, who prostitute themselves for attention and stand against everything I like about martial arts (them and Ronda).
If they have no honor then I allow myself to make the exception and act without honor and be openly happy about them doing badly (while sitting on the couch watching, myself doing jack shit). Askren and Chael make the top of the list there. I hope Askren just shuts up. He fights with grit and took a lot from Lawler and never gave up, I have big respect for that part. Still he got boom-roasted and should just go away now. Or fight Colby, their acts cancel each other out
 

Haulport

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
First 100
Jan 17, 2015
3,062
4,165
yes! :D
I have respect for any athlete who steps up, amateur/pro, win or lose.
if I think that someone is a bad person, I usually keep that to myself or at least not write stuff on the interet about s.o. I don't actually know.
EDIT: Idon't mean Ben here, rather some other athletes who are thugs. I'm sure Ben is a nice person in real life.EDIT
The only times I'm openly joyous about s.o. getting fucked up or even just taking a negative turn in their career are the trashtalkers, the loudmouths, who prostitute themselves for attention and stand against everything I like about martial arts (them and Ronda).
If they have no honor then I allow myself to make the exception and act without honor and be openly happy about them doing badly (while sitting on the couch watching, myself doing jack shit). Askren and Chael make the top of the list there. I hope Askren just shuts up. He fights with grit and took a lot from Lawler and never gave up, I have big respect for that part. Still he got boom-roasted and should just go away now. Or fight Colby, their acts cancel each other out
It's weird because I feel like Ben is a natural troll who likes to fuck with people for fun (probably irl too) so I never got annoyed by him like I did by Ronda and Conor. Chael was doing the whole pro-wrestlin' schtick so it didn't bother me too much. I knew Ronda was a psycho who believed her own completely phony hype from the start and I knew Conor was a POS, low-life ,wannabe thug as has been seen by his pursuit of organized gangsters as friends AFTER he became famous and rich......