He ducked TJ, plain & simple. Asking Dana for $2 million before PPV points when his previous, consecutive, headlining events sold a dismal 115-120k PPVs, is bullshit and his way of backing out of TJ's call-outs.
Nobody gets paid $2 million to show, while having such a dismal PPV buy track record like this. And if $$$$$$ was the main reason, then why did he switch over to One Championship????? They've been losing money for the past 3 YEARS straight:
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2018/10/17/17976862/one-championship-look-finances-mma-one-fc-losses
Ben Askren was getting paid $50,000 minimum per fight by One Championship. That ain't very close to $2 million for 1 fight that he's looking for.