Usman grinds out decision win over Maia in UFC Chile main event

Kamaru Usman notched the biggest win of his UFC career on Saturday night, defeating Demian Maia by unanimous decision in the main event in Santiago, Chile - the UFC's first event in the country.

Usman (13-1) said in his post-fight interview that he believed he broke his right hand in the second round and his left hand in the third. Even so, "The Nigerian Nightmare" extended his winning steak to 12 fights and declined to call out a specific opponent afterward, simply saying his goal is to fight for the welterweight title.

Maia (25-9), who took the bout on 23 days' notice in place of Santiago Ponzinibbio, has now lost three fights in a row for the first time in his career, dropping decisions to Tyron Woodley and Colby Covington before Saturday's bout with Usman.

The two started the fight by trading strikes before Maia landed his first takedown about 90 seconds in, but Usman quickly recovered to his feet. The two then tangled against the fence with Maia on Usman's back before the referee stepped in to break things up and restart the action, though not much happened before the first horn.

Usman began the second round more active, trying to find his striking range. The Nigerian stuffed three more takedown attempts by Maia as the round moved forward and stayed active with his striking despite not landing anything cleanly.

Usman then controlled the pace of the third with his striking and earned a clearer victory in the round after chasing his opponent around the Octagon for most of the five minutes.

Maia's coaches offered motivation to the 40-year-old as he looked to be fading headed into the later rounds, but it may have been too late as Usman landed a big right hand to score a knockdown. Usman let Maia back to his feet after realizing he had an energy advantage over the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist and continued to easily control the rest of the fourth frame.

Unable to hide his fatigue, Maia appeared to be just trying to get through the final round as Usman showed no signs of low energy and continued to pick apart his opponent standing up, leading to a convincing win.