Who is the best grappler to ever fight in UFC? We have the answer now. It’s Demian Maia and he just claimed that title with authority by submitting one of the most decorated wrestlers in UFC, Ben Askren.
UFC Singapore featured one of the most exciting fights of the year considering two elite grapplers in the business went toe to toe with each other.
However, the fight was not what everyone thought it would be as Askren and Maia traded strikes with each other for the most of first-round until Askren gets the takedown in the final minute of the round. However, Maia showed excellent defense on the ground and survived the round 1.
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Demian Maia gets the tap!
He executes the rear-naked choke to perfection.
A master of his craft. 👊#UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/iIP3znoA1L
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 26, 2019
Round 2 involved more grappling from both as Askren got Maia down with a fair amount of time remaining, but Maia got back up. Demian Maia was avoiding getting into the clinch in the first two rounds. Fans saw a striking contest for most of the first two rounds.
As the fatigue played a factor for both the fighters Demian Maia started to engage on the ground with Askren in round 3. The sequence started with Ben Askren taking Demian Maia down. However, Demian Maia reversed the position and secured Askren’s back. It was a matter of time after that for the fight to be over. Demian Maia did what he does best and put a body triangle from the top and then got the rear-naked choke in. Ben Askren showed valiant effort, but he passed out in the submission of Maia as the referee stopped the fight.
With this win, Demian Maia is now on a three-fight win streak and he possibly has 2 more fights left in UFC as per the contract. On the other hand, things do not look so good for Askren at all. Ben Askren has now lost two fights in a row and more importantly, he lost a fight that had the best grappler in MMA title attached to it.
