Demien Maia has made his claim as UFC's best grappler with a big win over Ben Askren.
In the main event of UFC Singapore, Maia locked in a rear naked choke on Askren late in the third round and Askren submitted after momentarily being out cold. The fight saw plenty of striking from both men, with Maia outlanding Askren at times, but the true battle between the two was always going to go to the ground and Maia had set out to show that his grappling abilities were superior to Askren's.
Maia now has 22 wins in the UFC, one behind Donald Cerrone for most in history. The submission win was also Maia's 11th in the UFC, which broke a tie with Royce Gracie's 10 submission wins in the UFC for second-most all time. Maia is two submission wins behind Charles Oliveira's 13 for most in UFC history.
Now on a three-fight win streak, Maia is getting back into title contention after dropping three straight fights to Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman. Askren has now lost two straight in the octagon and his UFC record is now 1-2 after winning his first 18 pro MMA fights before entering the UFC.
The card also saw Stevie Ray escape with a majority decision victory over Michael Johnson thanks a dominant third round where he hurt Johnson and landed dozens of clean strikes, nearly stopping the fight. Other results from the main card include Beneil Dariush and Ciryl Gane picking up submission wins over Frank Camacho and Don'Tale Mayes, respectively.
For full results of the entire card from Singapore, check out Fightful's coverage of the event.