Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to the hurt business last night (Sat., May 19, 2018) for UFC Fight Night 129 inside Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile, which was headlined by a Welterweight bout which saw Kamaru Usman defeat Demian Maia in a five-round main event. In the co-main event, Tatiana Suarez made quick work of Alexa Grasso by submitting her in the very first round.
Biggest Winner: Tatiana Suarez
Suarez kept her undefeated record in tact by absolutely taking it to Alexa Grasso — who was once considered to be one of the promotion’s future stars — submitting her in just a little over two minutes into the fight to move to 6-0, 3-0 UFC. As the kids say, Suarez has the juice now, as the PR love that used to go to Grasso should now be focused on Tatiana, who is determined to implement herself in the Strawweight division. Expect a huge bump in the rankings for her come next week, which means she can look forward to bigger challenges down the road.
Runner Up: Kamaru Usman
This won’t be a popular pick, as Usman didn’t get the dominant win or finish he was looking to score. But at the end of the day “The Nigerian Nightmare” got the win over a top five opponent he so desired after taking out Demian Maia. That is now eight straight wins inside the Octagon for Usman, 12 consecutive overall. With the win, Kamaru is slowly starting to separate himself from the pack, but he is still at least one more win away form a title fight. What’s more impressive, is that he managed to get a win despite breaking both his hands early in the fight. Ouch.
Biggest Loser: Demian Maia
After losing to Usman, the submission wizard extended his losing streak to three, losing to Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley before facing “The Nigerian Nightmare.” It’s a tough run indeed for the longtime veteran and former title challengers, who was already talking about his possible retirement from the fight game prior to the bout. At 40 years of age, three straight losses isn’t good for the former two-time title contender. On the bright side, he recently inked a new contract with the promotion, so he has that going for him.
For complete UFC Fight Night 129: “Maia vs Usman” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.