Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion, Matt Serra, was also a champion on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu circuit, so he knows a thing or two about grappling, as well as positioning inside the Octagon.
Which is why he’s so upset over UFC Chile.
That’s where referee Leon Roberts intervened when Demian Maia had Kamaru Usman trapped against the fence, an advantageous position he was forced to surrender in the UFC Fight Night 129 main event last Saturday night on FOX Sports 1.
Serra unloads on UFC Unfiltered (via MMA Fighting):
“They weren’t just holding each other up against the cage. It might have looked like it but Kamaru had an overhook and that overhook was the only thing stopping Demian from taking that back. It was a very awkward position where [Usman] was not getting out of that. The only way he could look to free himself was to let go and expose his back. Just in the montage before he walks out look at how many times he’s strangled guys,powerful wrestlers like Rick Story, gutty, gritty guys who do not tap easily like Carlos Condit or Matt Brown. This is not a coincidence. So for [Roberts] to take away his one shot, Leon Roberts, you should be ashamed of yourself and I think you possibly could have cost him the fight. Leon, you fucked up, Leon. You really did. Are you getting influenced because you’re maybe hearing some boos in the crowd or something? Your job is not to make this shit entertaining.”
Usman won a five-round unanimous decision.
Maia took the fight on short notice after Santiago Ponzinibbio was hurt and forced to withdraw. The Brazilian has been known to struggle against high-level wrestlers and after losing his position in the first frame, it was all downhill from there.
Watch the highlights here.
Usman moves on to bigger and better opportunities within the division, while Maia heads to the back of the 170-pound line, where he’s expected to complete the remaining fights on his UFC contract.