At UFC 198 in Curitiba, Brazil, Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Demian Maia (23-6) spent nearly 15 minutes on Matt Brown's (20-14) back before finishing him with a rear-naked choke. Maia is now on a five-fight win streak and tied at third for most submissions in UFC history with eight.
All three rounds were nearly identical, with Maia getting a takedown early in the round, taking Brown's back and locking up the body triangle. From there, he looked for a submission and finally found it in the last minute of the third round. Maia sunk one arm in and, despite Brown successfully controlling Maia's other arm, "The Immortal" still tapped.
Grappling beast Demian Maia does it again! A beautiful rear naked choke gets him a win over Matt Brown. #UFC198 https://t.co/MxEyI0fMj1
— FS1 (@FS1) May 15, 2016
Despite Brown's considerable power, Maia shut down all of Brown's attempts to do virtually anything. The only semblance of a reversal came when Maia attempted to set up an armbar, allowing Brown to turn and end up in closed guard—which didn't accomplish much.
Great choke finish from Maia. He was patient and relentless and capitalized on every single mistake Brown made to the fullest. #UFC198
— Patrick Wyman (@Patrick_Wyman) May 15, 2016
Not a one-armed choke. Maia grabbed his forearm for leverage. Still, you submitted Matt Brown that way? His squeeze must be outrageous.
— Luke Thomas (@SBNLukeThomas) May 15, 2016
Brown had been out for almost a year, last submitting Tim Means in July 2015. With this loss, he is now 2-3 in his last five, having dropped decisions to current welterweight champion Robbie Lawler and former champion Johny Hendricks. Prior to those losses, Brown's seven-fight win streak—six of which came via KO/TKO—generated enough hype to earn him the title-eliminator bout with Lawler. Brown will now likely be relegated to division gatekeeper for several fights.
He seemed to take the loss in stride, saying in his post-fight interview, “I 100-percent respect Demian and his style, that’s why I wanted to fight him. A loss means I found a new way to do things wrong. I will be back to training next week.”
Maia last fought fellow grappler Gunnar Nelson in a highly anticipated match at UFC 194, easily controlling Nelson the entire fight to take the unanimous decision. He also has wins over Neil Magny, Chael Sonnen and Rick Story—all submissions. His BJJ is among the best in the UFC, and he employed it to great effect at UFC 198, emerging from the fight with very little wear.
With such dominance and at No. 6 in the welterweight rankings, Maia should be next in line for a title eliminator, if not the next title shot after Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC 201. In his post-fight interview, Maia said, “He was trained to protect his neck, he did a good job. I will improve that. Now, I hope my next fight is for the belt.”
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
