It has been six years since Demetrious Johnson left the UFC in a trade that brought in Ben Askren from One Championship. While he was sorely missed, the Mighty Mouse has no regrets and called it the best decision he made in his career. Johnson’s exit, much like Francis Ngannou’s, was a direct result of their disputes regarding pay with the UFC.
Johnson did not think he was earning enough money after he had established himself as, arguably, the best fighter in the UFC at the time. In a recent podcast episode on his YouTube channel, he sat with Askren to elaborate on his exit.
“If an asset isn’t bringing in enough money that it should, then they wanted to get rid of it…. So why not go somewhere where they’re gonna appreciate me… I think it was the best decision I ever made in my career,” said Johnson.
The former UFC champ added that if he could go back in time, he would make that same decision again. He did not feel valued by Dana White and the UFC, and One Championship gave him his due.
He was so content that he decided to end his career there as a champion. Johnson and Askren then moved on to discuss other issues with the MMA establishment.
Johnson details the problem with MMA
Johnson and Askren presented two different takes on what is wrong with the MMA model.
For Askren, it was the lack of competition. He cited the example of what’s going on in the heavyweight division where Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall, the top dogs, have never fought each other. Comparing MMA to Wrestling, he said,
“If these guys were wrestling, we get to see them go at it every single year and we know who the best in the world is.”
Johnson revealed that these super fights don’t happen often because a loss is treated very differently in MMA as compared to Jiu-Jitsu or wrestling.
If an MMA fighter loses one fight, it’s like the end of the world. They have to then win a number of fights, prove their mettle again, to even be considered as a challenger. In sports like Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling, a loss is forgotten pretty quickly.
For the record, Johnson had four losses in his 30-bout career in MMA — three in the UFC, and a single loss in the One Championship. He bounced back from all those setbacks like a true champion each time.
