UFC Fight Night 62 Main Card Results: Demian Maia Ends Ryan LaFlare’s Hype

This evening’s (Sat., March 21, 2015) UFC Fight Night 62 main card is in the books from the Macaranazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The card was headlined by a pivotal welterweight contest between two fighters at different points in their careers. With four straight wins in four UFC bouts, undefeated contender Ryan LaFlare was looking to make a big statement by overcoming a huge step up in competition in former middleweight title challenger Demian Maia. LaFlare came out with some crisp shots, but was taken down to the mat by Maia. He smothered LaFlare with light ground shots for the entirety of the first round. Maia snapped a left hand and got another takedown in the second, mounting LaFlare to set up an arm triangle attempt.

In the third, the fighters traded strikes and LaFlare reversed a takedown to land in the guard, but Maia got up and took down LaFlare to mount him again and secure the round. The ground clinic went into the championship rounds and Maia scored with some strikes before wrenching LaFlare to the mat once again. He sought the arm triangle from the mount again, and this time it was tight. LaFlare persevered but was exhausted going into the fifth. The final round saw Maia gassed and LaFlare aggressive with his strikes to land a few decent shots. He went to the body but ate a stiff left hand from Maia, who followed with a takedown to ride out the clock and earn a dominant unanimous decision.

The co-main event also featured a decent amount of intrigue with two more welterweights in must-win situations. Brazilian submission specialist Erick Silva wanted to finally capitalize on his substantial hype against late replacement Josh Koscheck, who badly needed a win to avoid losing five straight. Koscheck came out aggressive to eat a big body kick, and landed a big elbow in close. Silva dropped “Kos” with a stiff left hand and jumped in a front headlock, switching to the guard to land some elbows. Koscheck looked for a big shot, but Silva landed a hard left hand and a kick. He began to unload on Koscheck, locking on a tight guillotine to earn a first round submission.

In other action, Leonardo Santos met Tony Martin at lightweight. The first round saw Martin control much of action in the clinch. Santos hit a trip takedown to take Martin’s back in the second, locking on a tight rear-naked choke to earn an inevitable submission.

Top-ranked women’s bantamweight Amanda Nunes sought to rebound from her UFC 178 loss to Cat Zingano by defeating Shayna Baszler. “Leoa” came out aggressive with some stinging low kicks and huge punches to the body and head that hurt Baszler. A huge leg kick hit Baszler’s knee and dropped her, earning an immediate stoppage from the ref.

Gilbert “Durinho” Burns attempted to keep his recognition growing against late replacement Alex Oliveira. Burns got an early inside trip but Oliveira fought back with some stiff strikes to cause some swelling on Burns’ eye. Oliveira continued to work his reach with damaging right uppercuts in the second. Burns got a takedown in the third, looking for a rolling Omoplata before attempting both a triangle and an armbar. The final submission hold proved the most effective, forcing Oliveira to tap with less than one minute remaining in a fight he was most likely winning on the judges’ cards.

Kicking off the main card, Godofredo Pepey threw down with Andre Fili at featherweight in another bout that had “Fight of the Night” written all over it. Pepey locked on a tight early triangle choke that Fili survived admirably for quite some time, but couldn’t escape in the end. Pepey scored his third consecutive finish victory with the impressive tapout.

UFC Fight Night 62 Main Card Results (FOX Sports 1, 10:00 PM ET)
Demian Maia def. Ryan LaFlare via unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 48-46)
Erick Silva def. Josh Koscheck via R1 submission (guillotine choke, 4:21)
Gilbert Burns def. Alex Oliveira via R3 submission (armbar, 4:14)
Leonardo Santos def. Tony Martin via R2 submission (rear-naked choke, 2:29)
Amanda Nunes def. Shayna Baszler via R1 TKO (leg kick 1:56)
Godofredo Pepey def. Andre Fili via R1 submission (triangle choke, 3:14)