Back in 2018 something totally unexpected happened in the world of combat sports. The UFC completed a ‘trade’ with ONE Championship, sending former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to Asia in exchange for Ben Askren.
Trade is in quotes there because it wasn’t like a trade you’d see in the NBA or NHL. In this situation what actually happened was both the UFC and ONE agreeing to terminate the contracts of both fighters so that both could then negotiate with the other promotion.
This was the first time we’d seen this in MMA and it hasn’t happened since.