The UFC Singapore Wrap-Up

The UFC Singapore Wrap-Up

By Claudia Peterson

UFC Fight Night 162 on ESPN+ took place at the Indoor Stadium in Kallan, Singapore on Saturday October 26th, 2019. The main event between welterweights Damien Maia vs Ben Askren won Fight of the Night, while lightweight Beneil Dariush and heavyweight Cyril Gane both won a Performance of the NIght bonus. All fighters won an additional $50,000 bonus.

The main event between grappling specialists Demian Maia and Ben Askren was a very exciting fight from the start. Mia started out on the safe side by staying alert and applying some well pointed striking against Askren.

Askren struggled to get Maia down the first few times he attempted his go to. When Askren was able to get Maia down, the grappling sequences were more or less all for Maia, who was able to resist Askren’s control and had Askren in trouble a couple of times before getting the submission win via rear-naked choke in the middle of the third round.

Maia has now won 3 fights in a row. He has two more fights left in his contract and seems to know exactly who he wants to fight next. He has mentioned that he wants to fight Diego Sanchez next and would even like to fight in Brazil before his retirement.

As for Askren, this is the first time in his fighting career that he has been submitted. He is 1-2 in his UFC run, but in all honesty all three of his fights have been quite disappointing.

His first fight was a controversial submission win over Robbie Lawler, and one could argue that the fight could have been stopped in favour of Lawler when it looked as if Askren was out for a couple of seconds after being slammed onto the canvas and exploded on with a barrage of punches.

His second fight in the UFC was an embarrassing 5 second KO loss against Jorge Masvidal, and on Saturday night he was put to sleep once again. It is difficult to envision a future for Askren in the UFC, especially given that he joined the organization as a veteran after his first retirement in his mid 30’s, having accomplished  a lot as an olympic wrestler and former Bellator and One Championship welterweight champion. He could stick around and perhaps rematch Lawler, but given how difficult their first fight was for Askren, it is unlikely he would want that rematch.

Heavyweight Cyril Gane retained his perfect record on Saturday night by defeating Don’Tale Mayes via submission late in the third round, an impressive win that earned him a POTN bonus.

The French fighter is now 4-0 in his pro career and 2-0 in his UFC run. He had an impressive debut with the promotion back in August against Raphael Pessoa, who he also submitted. He is truly proven to be well rounded, and now that MMA is legal in France, it is very likely that the likes of him and Francis Ngannou, who comes from the same gym, could make up part of the main card there.

Lightweight Beneil Dariush was the second fighter to win a POTN bonus with his submission win over Frank Camacho in the opening round of their bout.

Dariush has faced some very tough opponents in the past, and after a devastating knockout loss to Alex Hernandez back in 2018, he has now won three fights in a row. Dariush is considered a veteran of the sport, who until now was not really able to take off into the top 10, winning some fights scattered amongst losses. But he made quick work of Frank Camacho by getting the takedown early and getting the rear-naked choke. This is now his third bonus with the organization, and look for him to start 2020 early and with a great matchup ahead of him.