Throughout the majority of Saturday night’s main event fight in Chile, Demian Maia was unable to impose his patented grappling game against Kamaru Usman. But during one moment in the first round, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist was already on his way to a dominant position, only to be stopped by the referee.
It all happened during the halfway mark of the first round when Maia was able to work his way towards back control against Usman. The Brazilian already had one leg hook in but was being hindered to progress positions by the deep Whizzer that Usman had on his left arm.
After a few minutes of fighting against the fence, referee Leon Roberts decided to break the action, as Maia already began showing some activity. And for former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra, this particular decision by Roberts may have cost Maia the fight.
“This is the thing, he had his back,” Serra said on the recent episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I was not surprised the way things went after that. You have one shot sometimes in a fight like this, especially because he didn’t have a camp. People do not understand. That’s why I predicted a first-round choke by Demian Maia. He was on his way there.”
“They weren’t just holding each other up against the cage. It might have looked like it but Kamaru had an overhook and that overhook was the only thing stopping Demian from taking that back,” Serra went on to explain. “It was a very awkward position where [Usman] was not getting out of that. The only way he could look to free himself was to let go and expose his back. Otherwise, you’re just stalling.”
“Now, could he keep that up for another minute and 15 seconds or whatever it was? Maybe. If so, alright, let’s see what happens in round two. Or, with thirty seconds left, he could try to scramble and still get strangled.”
Serra adds that Roberts should be ashamed of himself for his officiating job that night.
“Just in the montage before he walks out, look at how many times he’s strangled guys – powerful wrestlers like Rick Story, gutty, gritty guys who do not tap easily like Carlos Condit or Matt Brown. This is not a coincidence. So for [Roberts] to take away his one shot, Leon Roberts, you should be ashamed of yourself and I think you possibly could have cost him the fight. Leon, you f—d up, Leon. You really did.”
“Are you getting influenced because you’re maybe hearing some boos in the crowd or something?” he continued. “Your job is not to make this sh-t entertaining. It’s one thing if a guy is stalling.”
“I get worked up because Demian Maia took that fight like a f—ng warrior and he saved that card and he had his position, he had what he wanted. He was this close! We don’t know what would have happened!”
The loss to Usman marks Maia’s third consecutive loss, after putting up a seven-fight win streak from 2014 to 2017.