In case you missed the bout live, here are the highlights for the middleweight bout between former top contender Demian Maia, and All American wrestler Chris Weidman, who was coming in on just 11 days notice.
Here's the complete play-by-play of the fight courtesy of our live blog of the event:
Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman - Round 1 - Maia misses with an overhand left and comes up short with a second one. Front kick to the face missed by Weidman. Maia is ducking and throwing the left hand counter but neither guy landing too solid. Knee lands for Maia. They're still kind of feeling things out through two minutes of the fight with neither guy really doing a lot of damage. Left hand by Maia. Weidman gets a nice punch in of his own now. Body kick by Weidman is blocked. They trade leg kicks. Left hand gets in for Maia. Weidman gets a takedown. Maia quickly stands up and lands some punches before slipping. Weidman hits him with a punch on the way up. They're clinched up now. Right hand by Weidman. 10-9 Weidman on my card, but close.
Round 2 - Weidman gets a takedown and is in side control but Maia manages to stand right up. Left hand by Maia. Weidman is looking better and better in the stand-up here. This is not a very exciting fight and the crowd is booing the (lack of) action. Now they trade leg kicks and go back to walking forward. Maia now picking it up and starting to work jabs, left hands and knees. Weidman with a takedown. 10-9 Weidman.
Round 3 - Weidman seemed like he was going for the takedown early but now they're striking again. Weidman gets the takedown. Maia holds the body and stands up. Uppercut by Maia. Maia with a horrible takedown attempt. Maia looks embarrassingly bad. Both men are tired, at least Weidman has an excuse. Weidman ands three knees in the clinch. 10-9 Weidman.
Official scorecards: 29-28 Weidman, 29-28 Maia, 29-28 Weidman. Chris Weidman wins by split decision. (Update: Dana White corrected on twitter and said Weidman won on all three cards)
0 recs | 19 comments
That video should be zero seconds long
That fight was pretty bad.
Chromium - January 29, 2012
weeeedman!!
Kronic - January 29, 2012
images like this STAYED on my mind when he fought Jesse Bongfelt.
The Hamburger Pimp - January 29, 2012 via mobile
highlights?
didn ’t even see the light!!
rider68 - January 29, 2012
Garbage
Inspectorxr5 - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Congrats to whoever made that video last 1:18
Our Bovine Public - January 29, 2012
I understand that taking Weidman down isn't as easy as it sounds,
and I don’t want to be like Dana White and bash on Maia’s gameplan, but Maia or someone in his corner should have known he lost round 1. It was frustrating watching Maia look so content with fighting a predictable losing battle and wish he would have at least tried something else. Yes, it’s a lot easier to preach than practice, but I say it as someone who thinks Maia is better than what he showed tonight.
sun yue - January 29, 2012
He also didn't try to submit Weidman when he got taken down.
he just kept working on getting back to his feet.
Anton Tabuena - January 29, 2012
this is what frustrated me the most.
He’s completely forsaken his amazing jiu jitsu that made him a red hot middleweight when he first came to the UFC. Now he’s content to be a shitty kickboxer.
The Hamburger Pimp - January 29, 2012 via mobile
Thats what really frusterated my watching that fight.
Maia displayed his great BJJ last night because he was able to scramble to his feet within seconds of being taken down but his standup was so redumentary and thats where he lost the fight. A few years ago I remember watching Maia pull guard and submit Herrman effortlessly…whatever happened to that Maia because this one who apparently is content using his BJJ IN REVERSE is going to find himself out of a job real quick here.
thej6m - January 29, 2012
there were highlights?!?!
TheDreadedMarco - January 29, 2012
Maybe Maia just knew that his BJJ isnt nearly as good as Weidman's wrestling..
Most of you are blaming Maia for not using his BJJ. I think that Maia knew that his only chance to win was keeping on the feet cause Weidman is way better than him on the ground.
Instead of ripping Maia, we should be talking about how good Weidman is. (I know he gassed but that’s cause he took the fight on 11 days notice)
KNOWLEGE - January 29, 2012
His BJJ was good enough to avoid being held down by Weidman for more than a few seconds each time. Why wasn’t he trying for sweeps instead of just standing up? Weidman wasn’t exactly dominating the standup; some ground control and submission attempts could’ve tipped the decision in Maia’s favor.
euthanatos - January 29, 2012
Maia is one of the best jiu jitsu fighters in the world, not only in MMA
Your username seems to be something that you don’t have much of.
YPG - January 29, 2012
Haha ok..
So you are trying to insult my intelligence because I pointed out that Weidman’s wrestling worked better in last night’s MMA fight than Maia’s BJJ?
That’s how it happened last night whether you want to deny it or not man.
Joe Rogan even said that on the broadcast..
KNOWLEGE - January 29, 2012
Andre Galvao had trouble with Weidman
at ADCC in pure grappling. Maia has outstruck guys before. It’s not clear that he had a bigger potential advantage on the ground than he did on the feet, although I was hoping he’d try it out.
Charlie Offenbacher - January 29, 2012
MAIA
plz go back to youre ground game cause this is going no where whit youre stricking BS
LoBoTrOn - January 29, 2012
I don’t think Maia has forsaken his BJJ at all. I think the man just gets spent at about the 6 to 7 min mark in a fight. Just look at the mans record 9 of his 10 Sub finishes came eather in the 1st round of a fight or the early 2nd.
Shocbomb - January 29, 2012
Awesome music choice
Jet Moto never die!
El_Ee_Oh - January 29, 2012
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