In retrospect, was Askren for MM a good trade?

Yes, but not in the way people expected it to be beneficial. He helped launch Masvidal's career so the trade actually helped them to create a star in the UFC, it just wasn't Askren. So overall it was a good trade because they are still using Masvidal's popularity to this day and had one of the biggest PPV's in UFC history - which probably would've never happened without the trade taking place.

Well, that's kind of OP's point. My first thought upon reading the question was a resounding "heck no," but with the Masvidal angle, yeah, in retrospect it was a good trade.
 
MM vs Cejudo 3 would've happened and MM vs Figu would be a great fight, so maybe not in retrospect. Askren was a good signing at the time, but results didn't match the potential (or hype, as Ben was basically old and retired when he signed).
 
Yes. Because UFC is not about having the best fighters in the world anymore, is all about having the best ticket sellers only (used to be about both). Askren made journeyman Jorge a bigger star than P4P #1 MM had even been in the UFC.

It was profitable. And that is all that matters to the UFC these days because they already have the mayority of the fans buying their watered down cards and accepting that "those are the best fighters in the world" just because they fight in the UFC
 
Financially for the UFC, yes.

But tbh I think Mighty Mouse didn't have an interest in competing at an elite level anymore, in 2 years Cejudo went from getting destroyed in 2 minutes to going 5 hard competitive rounds, and after that he only got better, whereas Mighty Mouse has lots of miles and tbh since joining ONE has looked...not bad but just sort of lethargic.

DJ didn't want the trilogy with Cejudo and he wasn't going to fight guys like TJ and Marlon.
 
Lol- I guess, indirectly, it wasnt bad. DJ , as good as he is, fights at 125 and is a needle in neutral. Askren gave us special moments ( not the kind we were expecting but special nonetheless).
 
It's a tough one. On one hand I at least knew who the Flyweight champ was, on the other hand the now have one of the more popular journeymen posing as a top 10 guy.
I also think if McDonald's candy sell people on a salad, the UFC should be able to sell us one one of their champs
 
In terms of profit, they definitely came out ahead. In terms of legitimacy of the sport they went down (in hind sight). Askren was the biggest variable outside of the UFC at the time though. Overall: good trade.
 
Hell no, not for me at least.

DJ is a GOAT and what did we get?
We got a ton of Masvidal fans with their annoying and infantile "street jesus" and "three piece with the soda" BS and that stuff peaked when they introduced the abomination that has been the BMF belt.
 
Well Masvidal became a huge star solely because of the Askren fight. That alone was worth more to the UFC than Johnson.

I would say the 'three piece and a soda' incident made Masvidal a star before that, but yes, he exploded after Askren so I agree
 
Askren was not past prime, the reason he got exposed in the UFC is because he finally fought legit competition. But in reality he always sucked. You can’t achieve big things with that kind of striking skills in this era.

I see you are just as stupid as you were with your prior account.

You know Askren retired from MMA a year and half before he fought in the UFC right?

Did you know that he had a badly fucked hip and was planning surgery, then got the hail mary call from the UFC and tried to make a go of it?

First thing he did after he retired from the UFC was to get hip surgery.

Pretty hard to use your best tool when you have a bad hip.

Hurry up and get banned again
 
Definitely, even though his performances alone weren't good, he was definitely bringing more people in front of the TV than Mighty Mouse.

It's not even arguable that it was a great deal.
 
Askren made journeyman Masvidal a superstar so we could have the cuban drama queen getting 2 title shots in a row after losing in a snoozefest and ducking every single legit contender.
And now Askren is going to make all MMA look bad by getting KTFO by a youtuber.

Worst. Deal. Ever.
 
Yes. Aside from the stuff about making stars, it was good to finally see where Askren stood with top WW competition. It might have come a little bit later than it should have but he deserved his chance.
 
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