Carlos Condit vs. Demian Maia was more than a striker-grappler matchup. It’s more like the striker-grappler matchup, at least in the UFC’s welterweight division.
In one corner of the main event of UFC on Fox 21, which went down Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia, you had Condit, a razor-sharp muay thai striker with 15 knockouts on his resume. He’s pretty good on the ground, too, but he wanted no part of that against Maia, the jiu-jitsu hero with 11 submission wins and a five-fight win streak in the UFC Octagon.
Something, as they say, had to give.
Maia’s takedowns are not a particular strong suit. Then again, neither is takedown defense for Condit, for all his advantages on the feet. How did the fight play out?
It’s just one of many questions on a night that saw Anthony Pettis debut at featherweight and Paige VanZant return to MMA action, among other things. And as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC on Fox 21.