UFC Singapore: Watch Demian Maia Discuss Fighting Ending Submission, What he Said to Ben Askren After

Demian Maia’s career may be winding down, but the 41-year-old showed the MMA world today at UFC Singapore that he remains ridiculously, ridiculously dangerous on the floor.

The vaunted grappler chokes out Ben Askren

Maia faced the decorated wrestler Ben Askren in the main event, and heading into the fight, there was a lot of debate about whether we’d see action on the ground. The question being, would Askren take Maia to the ground and engage the feared submission artist? Or would he use his wrestling defensively, and try to beat Maia on the feet (as other noted wrestlers like Colby Covington, Tyron Woodley and Kamaru Usman have down).

Well, Askren did end up taking Maia to the ground a couple of times. But in round three, Askren did so earlier on into the frame, and Maia made him pay. The Brazilian star took the top position and sunk in a fight-ending, rear-naked-choke.

After the impressive win, Maia had this to say about the fight’s final moments:

“I remember he took me down right? Then I went to a heel hook, and then from the heel hook I really tried to submit him and he jumped outside and I go on top. I used the heel hook as a sweep and I got to the mount, passed the mount, and he gave his back. I was just really making sure that I kept the back because I know as a wrestler, he’s very good at taking you out of the back. So I was making sure that first, I guarantee the position…then my corner said two minutes, and I said ‘okay, I have enough time’. When I got to his back I said  ‘man, I think I have maybe like just 40 seconds, but when they call ‘two minutes’, I said ‘okay’. Two minutes is enough time to submit him and it was good. I was able to.”

In the post-fight interview, Maia also talked about what he told Askren afterward, and you can check it out below.

Maia’s record

With today’s win, Maia moved his overall record to 28-9, and the veteran extended his winning streak to three. It will be interesting to see what comes next for Maia, as he also relayed he hopes to fight a couple more times and he expressed an interest in facing Diego Sanchez.