If you are wondering which side of the Ben Askren vs. Demetrious Johnson trade thinks more highly of their acquisition, it isn’t hard to parse a guess. Within 24 hours of the transaction being complete, ONE Championship held an introductory conference call welcoming Johnson into the fold, blasted the news as the lead story on its website, and posted about it on their social media accounts. From the UFC’s side of the trade, it’s been crickets.
To be fair, the worldwide MMA giant was likely preoccupied with the UFC Moncton event it held over the weekend, but it’s hard to imagine they couldn’t at least squeeze out a Sunday morning tweet if there was genuine organizational excitement about the deal.