Sure, you can specify the last year as the bounds of your claim, but I'm not sure that it would carry much weight as to refuting Askren's desire to be in the UFC. What I mean is that being signed for 6+ fights in a contract without an out-clause means that you're going to be there for a considerable amount of time, so without the option of getting picked up by the UFC, you might as well drive up your future price potential (or even if you argue that Askren's tactics don't drive up his price, at least his demands to be paid fairly means he's not willingly driving it down to the lowest possible value.) Since no deals will be made in the near future, it wouldn't be in his self-interest to offer to fight for cheap when he's free.
To emphasize, whenever he was actually available to be signed to the UFC, he did in fact make every effort to be signed by them. All media during that time, the time in which he was actually available to be picked up, contain clear statements made by Askren that he would sacrifice payscale in order to have a shot at being the best, and there are also clear statements made by the UFC that they didn't want him despite this, most notably the fact that they refused to even make an offer when he met with them, on his request, in Vegas.
