What can we learn about a “trade” between the UFC and ONE Championship that shocked the MMA world this week? Retired UFC and WEC fighter Danny Downes joins MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes to discuss in this week’s Trading Shots.

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Fowlkes: One thing I’ve got to say for this here sport is that it keeps finding ways to surprise me, Danny. Case in point, the news that ONE Championship and the UFC have agreed to a so-called “trade” involving Ben Askren and Demetrious Johnson.

It should be noted, before we go any further, that it’s not a true trade. All indications are that both promotions have simply agreed to let their fighters out of their contracts so they can sign a new one with the other organization. And, presumably, the actual signing of those contracts could still theoretically prove to be a sticking point.

But still, this seems like kind of a big deal, especially because it involves the UFC essentially saying “thanks but no thanks” to the most dominant champion it has ever known, all so it can acquire the services of a guy who UFC President Dana White once described as the “most boring fighter in MMA history.”

Seriously, Danny. He said he’d rather watch flies procreate. Now he’s saying he’d rather have him than the guy the UFC has spent the last few years hailing as a pound-for-pound great. What are we supposed to make of that?

Downes: That White is a reasonable man capable of changing his mind? No, that can’t be right.

I suppose my initial thought was, “Well, that’s the end of the men’s flyweight division.” I know Johnson is no longer the champ, but the division was on life support even when he was dominating it. Now that the most interesting fight you can make with Henry Cejudo is a champ-champ fight against T.J. Dillashaw, I’d start looking at bulking up if I were a 125-pound fighter.

Besides the immediate concerns at flyweight, the trade should make us think about Johnson’s legacy. Yes, his career isn’t over, but I’d guess the number of U.S. fans watching ONE Championship cards is less than the number who bought UFC 174. And let’s just say that number wasn’t too great.

There’s a tendency to conflate drawing power with ability, and no fighter suffered from that more than Johnson. It seems like we’ve been asking why he’s not a bigger star for the last five years. Sure, we throw in a “pound-for-pound great” every now and then (whatever that means), but it seems like he’s had the same storyline as long as he’s been on the scene.

To me, the “Mighty Mouse” situation seems straightforward. I’m not sure what to think of the Askren element.

He’s a former training partner, and I’ve always thought he got a raw deal from the UFC the first time around. I also admired him for not taking pennies on the dollar to try to prove himself to White and the UFC. No matter the owners, the organization has made fighters take scraps to beg for its attention, and 99 percent of athletes are too happy to indulge them. Askren, on the other hand, wasn’t going to be baited into that.

Now he’s 34 years old, and while he hasn’t taken a lot of damage over his career, the window for a run at the belt keeps narrowing. He’s already out there trolling the entire division, and I think he can beat all of them. What’s the right play here? Do you have him step in against Darren Till? Should we let Jorge Masvidal build up a fight and explain how long #hoslapseason runs?

Fowlkes: The thing I can’t figure out about the UFC’s thinking on Askren is whether this is another sign that you can be boring in the cage as long as you’re willing to talk all kinds of mess on Twitter outside of it, or if it’s mostly just a convenient smokescreen for eliminating the flyweight division.

The latter possibility makes me feel a little too tinfoil hat-ish, but I also can’t entirely discount it. We knew the UFC wasn’t crazy about how men’s flyweight had performed in the ratings and on pay-per-view. But slashing the entire division the minute “Mighty Mouse” lost his title would have seemed like a retreat. This way, maybe it feels like giving up one thing to get another – and the prize in the end is Askren.

I agree that Askren probably beats an awful lot of UFC welterweights right now. I also think it won’t be terribly fun to watch. Still, I’ve got to admit that I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

I always thought that Askren’s de facto excommunication from the halls of elite MMA exposed a weakness of this sport. All that “where the best fight the best” talk was shown to be just another marketing gimmick, and it turned out that fans didn’t really mind.

Now he’ll finally get his chance. We’re going to get some answers to our questions. And it’s weirdly fitting that what it costs us is one of the greatest talents the sport has ever known, who went mostly unappreciated anyway. We get the sport we deserve in the end, don’t we?

Downes: Now there’s the alarmist Ben Fowlkes we’ve all come to know and tolerate.

When you think about it, what’s happening to Johnson isn’t that special. Yes, the circumstances are unprecedented and unique to MMA, but it’s a familiar combat sports story. A promotion squeezes what it can from a fighter and then drops him when it thinks it can get more value from somebody else.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a journeyman or one of the “greatest talents the sport has ever known.” They all get dumped sooner or later. Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell are going to drag themselves out for some scraps next month. Is what happened to Johnson that much more egregious?

While I’m not as conspiratorial as you, I also question the UFC’s calculus on signing Askren. Before, we used to talk about how Bellator and other non-UFC MMA promotions needed to sign big names outside the organization to be viable. Increasingly, it’s starting to appear that the UFC is the one in need of outside help. You can never have too many stars, but the UFC needs new blood in general – even if it’s a wrestler White still blocks on Twitter.

Regardless of the individual elements of this particular “trade,” I do wonder how common this practice will become. Fighters already have such little control. Adding the possibility of your promoter shipping you off to fight in the Philippines should be a cause for concern.

It seems like Askren and Johnson were involved in this decision, but (let’s say it together), “The promoter is not your friend!” In the end, this situation ended up providing what’s best for the promotions, the fans, and the fighters. If/when something like this happens again, what are the chances it stays that way?

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Danny Downes, a retired UFC and WEC fighter, is an MMAjunkie contributor who has also written for UFC.com and UFC 360. Follow them on twitter at @benfowlkesMMA and @dannyboydownes.