UFC Maia vs Usman fight night preview: Two gladiators meet on the road to becoming a world title challenger

The Octagon stays in South America this weekend, heading south from Rio de Janeiro and over to Chile, on the west side of the continent. From the first fight on the card to the bill topper, the UFC matchmakers have challenged some of the best South American fighters on the roster, with tough opposition from around the world. An important fight in the welterweight division sits at the head of the main card. Two top 10 welterweights will vie for a position of relevance in a weight class littered with potential superstars. One of these gladiators is on the rise to becoming a title challenger, the other gathering the pieces after a failed attempt at Tyron Woodley’s throne.

Demian Maia is one of the last purists in the sport at the elite level. I use the word ‘purist’ over ‘specialist’ because many fighters in the UFC specialise in a particular approach or skill set. They specialise by making their favoured or more successful set of abilities the core of their game, around which they build the rest of their MMA skills to support. Like a wrestler learning to box to set up takedowns, or a kickboxer learning wrestling to stop takedown attempts. If the specialist fails in their efforts with their primary skill set, they will fall back upon a secondary and sometimes tertiary lot of techniques to see if they can make some headway.

If I were a good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner and 70% of my game-planning revolved around grounding my opponent and working my submission attacks, I would divide my preparations in a similar way. This means that if that 70% approach fails, I have some other things I can try before I’m out of options. A purist, to me, is someone that is so insistent on a particular martial art, that everything else falls by the wayside. The benefit here is that your one core skillset is deadly and often you look so good here that people understand why you don’t divide your attention in training camp to provide a back-up plan.

The drawback is that if, on the rare occasion, that primary attack fails, what do you have to offer? This was the roadblock that Demian Maia ran into against Woodley last summer. Woodley is a strong and stubborn wrestler that would rather shut him down and not open up, than take any chances and leave himself vulnerable. Maia relies on a vulnerability to be offered or made, in order for his attack to work. Because he is a master in Jiu Jitsu though, his insistence on a grappling match is obvious, and even when everyone knows its coming, most people still can do nothing about it.

Maia’s opponent in Santiago this weekend offers him two things. One, a chance to beat a rising prospect and use that victory as a foundation upon which to build his next title run. Secondly, it is an opportunity to run back the title fight performance against a less experienced and more eager fighter and hopefully correct the mistakes or try something new. If he is to ever beat Woodley, or whoever holds the title in the future, he will need to have a back-up game plan. As good as he is, these fighters are preparing specifically to shut him down. Once they’ve had some success, Maia will begin to tire and then it becomes dangerous for him.

His opponent will be the “Nigerian Nightmare”, Kamaru Usman. Currently ranked seventh in the division and seemingly only just starting to realise his potential, Usman has yet to taste defeat in the Octagon. A cast member of season 21 of The Ultimate Fighter, Usman went into the house representing the Blackzillians. Since beating Hayder Hassan in the finale back in July of 2015, Usman has been under the watchful eye of Henri Hooft and his skilled coaching staff at the Hard Knocks 365 gym in Florida. Usman is a strong and well-conditioned athlete, capable of making Maia work for every ounce of success he may experience.

Aside from his arm triangle finish over Hayder Hassan, Usman has picked up one other stoppage in seven outings under the UFC banner, one of the few criticisms of his career so far. The control he displays, and the ease with which he manhandles opponents, only adds to the critique he receives from the media and fans. You would think that a fighter with seemingly so much more to give at the end of each bout should be able to dispatch a higher number of his opponents. This is, for me, the one glaring weakness in Usman’s game, and possibly the only window of opportunity Maia knows will be on his side.

In a main event fight Maia will probably have the entire 25 minutes to play with. Having fought through the full five rounds recently against Woodley, and against Anderson Silva up at middleweight, back in 2010, that in itself won’t be concerning. Although clearly very comfortable controlling people for a unanimous decision victory, Usman has only ever done it over three rounds. Does he run out of steam after 15 minutes and allow Maia to take his back due to fatigue? Most would expect Usman to shut Maia’s wrestling down and make him strike. This would probably be the best approach but Maia will not stop trying for the takedown.

With wrestling being Usman’s most familiar discipline and Maia being so incredible on the ground, I have to think that Usman will eventually succumb to a grappling exchange. Even if it is out of confidence that he is ahead on the scorecards and thinks Maia is tired, it wouldn’t take much for the veteran grappler to choke the air out of him. I expect this to be a tactical chess match, with the old lion trying to make the young fighter over-extend himself or make a costly mistake. If Usman comes through, he moves onto the next filtration stage of the division and will find himself joined by the winners of other important welterweight bouts happening over these next few weeks.

Diego Rivas is the sole Chilean on the card and hopes to break ground for the other rising talent across the country. He takes on Guido Cannetti of Argentina, who will undoubtedly have some strong support in the arena as well. The co-main sets Alexa Grasso and Tatiana Suarez on a collision course, both wanting to climb a few rungs on the women’s strawweight ladder. The other stand out fight on the bill is the main card opener. Vicente Luque taking on Chad Laprise is likely to be a fast-paced striking match with a sudden end. Both are skilled finishers, and both are rising to their prime at a similar rate. This will set the bar high for that ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus!

Watch UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: MAIA VS. USMAN live on BT Sport 2 from 1am BST early on Sunday, May 20 or catch the Early Prelims exclusively on UFC Fight Pass from 11:30pm BST on Saturday