UFC: Ben Askren taps to Demian Maia’s rear-naked choke in third round in Singapore
- Brazilian hands Askren the first submission defeat of his career in main event of UFC Fight Night 162
- Askren, who appeared to be choked out momentarily, now riding back-to-back losses with a 1-2 UFC record
Brazilian Demian Maia took a huge chunk out of Ben Askren’s UFC hopes when he slipped in a rear-naked choke that had the American tapping out at 3.54 of the third round in their welterweight headliner at Fight Night 162 in Singapore.
There had been a lot of punches thrown from the two famed grapplers early, before Askren took his opponent down with time ticking away in the third. Almost immediately he lost the initiative and against the BJJ legend like Maia, such a loss always proves fatal.
“My nature is always to grapple but I tried to make him more tired,” said the 41-year-old. “He is very hard guy to fight. He’s a great wrestler.
“Myself and him are the best grapplers in the game. Maybe they can give us a belt because today I showed I am the best grappler around.”
On paper this looked a match certain to be decided on the ground, given Maia’s BJJ pedigree and the fact Askren is one of American wrestling’s all-time greats.
