The best and worst from UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs. Dos Santos

#2 Worst: The Maia/Martin fight

Demian Maia's fight with Anthony Rocco Martin was largely forgettable

The only fight I didn’t enjoy last night was the Demian Maia/Anthony Rocco Martin clash. Maia ended up winning a majority decision, with two judges giving him 29-28 scorecards and the third inexplicably going for a 28-28 draw, but it was one of the more forgettable fights of the Brazilian veteran’s career.

Maia essentially managed to eke out the fight by outgrappling Martin for the first two rounds, but he never came close to a submission victory – usually preferring to pin Martin on his back against the fence and land short punches – and he appeared to run out of steam in the third round, allowing Martin to outstrike him, but ‘Rocco’ simply wasn’t active enough to warrant picking up a victory.

For me it felt like Maia did what he had to do – at 41 years old it’s admirable that he’s still competing at the top against tough guys like Martin – but Martin missed a chance for a breakout performance as he just didn’t come in aggressively enough with his striking in the third round particularly. It never looked like Maia would submit him, so why not take some chances? As it was, this was easily the most skippable fight on offer last night.