When Demian Maia is able to take his opposition down, it’s a like watching a magic amulet turn bright blue before unlocking some secrets to the universe. When he can’t, it’s like watching some dude trying to start a stubborn lawn mower. Saturday night in Chile, we got the latter. There was the 40-year-old Demian Maia shooting on Kamaru Usman again and again (and again), and the damn thing wouldn’t start. You could practically hear Maia mumbling “well you son of a bitch” under his breath.
Perhaps it wouldn’t have been quite such a mundane affair if Maia weren’t in the main event of a Fight Night against a fighter widely known as the Man Nobody Wants to Face.