UFC 198 Prelims: Demian Maia Rear-Naked Choke Submits Matt Brown

Demian Maia will sleep well.

The 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist submitted Matt Brown with a third-round rear-naked choke before 45,000 of his rowdy countrymen at UFC 198 “Werdum vs. Miocic” on Saturday at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. Brown (20-14, 13-8 UFC) conceded defeat 4:31 into round three.

Maia (23-6, 17-6 UFC) was in control from start to finish. He routinely closed the distance, pressed Brown against the fence and secured one takedown after another. Maia advanced to the back in all three rounds, slowly chipping away at “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 graduate’s resolve. Late in the third round, Maia again positioned himself on Brown’s back, snaked his arms into position and squeezed the Xenia, Ohio, native into submission.

The victory, Maia’s fifth in a row, moves him into sole possession of fourth place on the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s career wins list. Only Georges St. Pierre (19), Matt Hughes (18) and Michael Bisping (18) have more.

Related » UFC 198 Round-by-Round Scoring

Santos Mauls Fading Marquardt

Tata Fight Team rep Thiago Santos took care of former Pancrase champion Nate Marquardt with first-round punches in a preliminary middleweight encounter. Santos (13-3, 5-2 UFC) drew the curtain 3:39 into round one, as he won for the fourth time in as many appearances.

Marquardt (34-16-2, 12-9 UFC) was the proverbial fish in a barrel. Santos sliced into him with kicks, sat him down with a left hook and went to work once he returned to his feet. The Brazilian unleashed a ferocious volley of punches, capped by a straight left to the side of the head, that had Marquardt kneeling on all fours, his forehead resting on the canvas. With that, referee Kevin MacDonald had seen enough.

The 37-year-old Marquardt has lost six of his last eight bouts.

Surging Trinaldo Overcomes Medeiros

Former Jungle Fight champion Francisco Trinaldo recorded his fifth straight victory in a unanimous decision over Yancy Medeiros in a three-round undercard confrontation at 155 pounds. Trinaldo (20-4, 8-3 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-26, 30-27 and 30-26 marks from the judges.

Medeiros (12-4, 3-4 UFC) spent much of the match clinging to consciousness, as he absorbed a hellacious beating. Trinaldo rocked him with a series of violent overhand lefts in the first round and might have finished it had a few more seconds been available to him. Medeiros somehow bounced back in the second, where he dropped the Brazilian with a right hook in the closing seconds and appeared to steal the momentum.

Trinaldo cleared his head between rounds and turned up the heat again in the third. Over the final five minutes, he assaulted Medeiros with repeated power punches to the head and body. The Hawaiian collapsed to the canvas twice, his wobbly legs unable to hold up his 5-foot-10 frame. Trinaldo eventually punched himself out and gave in to fatigue, retreating to his back in the waning moments to ride out the clock.

Overbearing Lineker Sinks Font

John Lineker utilized sweeping punches to the head and body, brutal leg kicks and overwhelming pressure in claiming a unanimous decision from Rob Font in their preliminary bantamweight pairing. All three cageside judges saw it for Lineker (27-7, 8-2 UFC): 30-27, 29-28 and 30-26.

Font (12-2, 2-1 UFC) entered the cage on an 11-fight winning streak but was not yet ready for such a significant jump in competition. Lineker uncorked winging punches upstairs while successfully targeting the body and legs. Before long, Font was in survival mode, either unwilling or unable to let his hands go. Needing a finish entering the third round, the promising Team Sityodtong export instead found himself in front of an even more aggressive Lineker. The Brazilian was relentless in the closing minutes, forcing Font to retreat to his back on more than one occasion. He found no refuge there, as Lineker met him with short punches, elbows and clubbing hammerfists.

Lineker, 25, has won four fights in a row.

‘Minotouro’ Nogueira Stops Cummins

Pride Fighting Championships veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira disposed of Patrick Cummins with first-round punches in their undercard scrap at 205 pounds. Referee Leon Roberts rescued the still-standing Cummins (8-4, 4-4 UFC) 4:52 into round one, having deemed him unfit to continue.

Nogueira (22-7, 5-4 UFC) walked down the two-time NCAA All-American wrestler and picked his spots. A straight left followed by a crushing right hook left Cummins compromised and incapable of defending the Brazilian’s follow-up attacks. Nogueira then drove him to the canvas with punches and battered him with ground-and-pound before allowing him to return to his feet. From there, he blasted away on the defenseless Cummins until Roberts intervened.

The loss brought an end to a two-fight losing streak for Nogueira.

Moraes, Chagas Battle to Draw

Multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Sergio Moraes and promising newcomer Luan Chagas fought to a 15-minute draw in a preliminary welterweight affair. Scores were 29-28 for Moraes, 29-28 for Chagas and 28-28.

A short-notice replacement for the injured Kamaru Usman, Chagas (14-1-1, 0-0-1 UFC) landed the most decisive blow of the fight in the first round, where he floored Moraes with a head kick. The 22-year-old moved forward behind punches and leg kicks, especially early, but ran out of gas as time ticked away. Moraes (10-2-1, 4-1-1 UFC) threatened him with a guillotine choke in the second round and continued to turn the tide in the third, where he assumed top position, passed to half guard and advanced to side control before climbing to the back. The spent Chagas rolled for a late kneebar, his efforts to execute a last-minute finish proving unsuccessful.

The draw snapped a nine-fight winning streak for Chagas and a four-fight run for Moraes.

Unbeaten Carneiro Edges Tukhugov

Stinging leg kicks, right-hand counters and exceptional takedown defense carried the undefeated Renato Carneiro to a split decision over Zubaira Tukhugov in their three-round undercard clash at 145 pounds. Scores were 29-28 for Tukhugov, 29-28 and 29-28 for Carneiro.

Output was an issue for Tukhugov (18-4, 3-1 UFC), as he struggled at times to string together his punches. Carneiro carved up his lead leg with kicks, fed him an occasional jab and stymied his attempts to dictate where the fight played out by shutting down his takedowns and scrambling out of potential danger. The 26-year-old Brazilian weathered a cut near his left eye and controlled the center of the cage against Tukhugov, who saw his nine-fight winning streak grind to a halt.

Carneiro has rattled off five consecutive victories.