The Askren/DJ trade benefitted both sides

[LostMyBlackBelt]

DJ also asked for the trade, and if Dana didn't oblige sherdorks would've called him a racist dictator.

Damned if he did, & damned if he didnt

His mother called him a racist dictator, because he is one.

 

[GIBLERTBAPTISTA]

If only Dana wasn't an ego fueled asshole, we could have had prime Askren years earlier.

 

[Ramon Antonio]

It was win/win for Dana anyway. Take away an undefeated champ from another organization. If he does well you have a new contender, if he does poorly you show the world that your organization is much better than theirs.

DJ does well outside of UFC makes UFC look good. DJ does poorly, you can just say well he was getting old.

 

[NoStoneUnturned]

I don't like WMMA, don't like most of 125, and I don't like most of the heavyweights either. If all of WMMA, 75% of 125, and 75% of HW vanished, I'm not sure I'd care.

 

[tat2man5k]

I don't know if it's been said but Mike Russow and RJ Clifford on MMA Today were talking about it and they mentioned if not for that trade, we wouldn't have seen the rise of Masvidal, so that's one way the UFC won. However, they also mentioned that the fans lost because we didn't get a MM/Cejudo trilogy.

 

[Dionysian]

"Both sides" here meaning fanbases or organizations? Sure as hell didn't help either side in terms of the actual fighters you mentioned. Askren went from having buzz behind him and undefeated to be a HL reel for quickest KO loss ever. DJ went from being promoted #1 P4P UFC champ to tossed to the promotional curb overnight

 

[blaseblase]

How do you know how much money they made for the company? PPV isn't the only model and DJ headlined 11 cards, while Masvidal only headlined 6...

DJ:
UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson
UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall
UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson
UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga
UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2
UFC 174
UFC 178
UFC 186
UFC 191
The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale
UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Reis

Masvidal:
UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. Masvidal
UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal
UFC 244
UFC 251
UFC 261
UFC 272

but really we should be comparing DJ to Askren, not Masvidal, and it would look even worse for the UFC because Askren headlined only 1 card and then he got knocked out by a youtuber.

DJ's highest buy rate was 205,000 and that's likely juked up due to Conor being on the card. His others were doing less than 130k, the lowest PPV rates for a champion. He was unquestionably PPV poison. Askren's fights, despite him not even headlining two of them, were drawing much more attention and news coverage. He was dominating the press conferences.

There's no need to pretend DJ brought financial value to the UFC. They were literally going to close the division because of him. Great fighter, not ever a draw.

 

[Fight Professor]

It benefited UFC, DJ and Masvidal, but not Askren. Ben really got exposed - he was finished by Lawler (ref gave him another chance), finished by Maya (on the ground) and annihilated by Masvidal.

At the time everyone was listening to Rogan and believed that Askren was the uncrowned champ. In reality he was a mix of Ronda and Bo Nickal.