One of the best fights on the UFC 190 card was Demian Maia vs. Neil Magny. While the event is largely comprised of fights between middling and/or aging veterans, Maia is a still-relevant top-10 welterweight and Magny was on a strong seven-fight winning streak.
Unfortunately, the fight didn't pan out to be all that impressive.
Maia took Magny down with a scary ease in the early goings of the first round, and quickly advanced to mount. Anyone who has ever seen Maia fight before knows that isn't good. While Magny would survive the first round, the second was very similar...with the exception of a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
So what did we learn from this fight?
Neil Magny is Totally Not Legit
A seven-fight winning streak in the UFC's thick welterweight division is nothing to shrug off. A fighter has to be pretty darn good to pull that off. However, as soon as Maia scored an effortless takedown, that was the end of Magny's days as a potential player at 170-pounds.
Yes, Maia is one of the rare Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialists that actually has a legitimate wrestling game, but he's not exactly Johny Hendricks. When he got hold of Magny's leg and just rolled right through him and got to work, it was a sign that Magny either lacked the wrestling to hang with real top-10 talents, or came in woefully under-prepared for one of the most predictable fighters in high-level MMA.
Either way, the top-10 ship has officially sailed. Neil Magny was not on it.
Demian Maia Still Has It
It's always easy to jump off a bandwagon. More often than not, it's the right thing to do. MMA as a sport, and the pool of athletic talent, improve with time. Fighters? They rarely get better with age.
When Maia lost consecutive fights to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald, plenty of fans and pundits hit the eject button. Those fans and pundits were a tad too quick to jump ship.
Maia still has "it." He might not be able to beat anybody ranked too high above him. He might not come close to getting another title shot. But he's still one of the toughest outs at 170-pounds.
Neil Magny Still Can't Really Use His Physical Tools
Magny towers over the competition. He also has a huge reach advantage over everyone in his division.
Sometimes, a huge height and reach advantage helps a fighter turn into Jon Jones. Sometimes a huge height and reach advantage results in a Stefan Struve. Guess which category Magny falls into?
It's a bit disappointing, of course. With a bit more swagger and a few more techniques, Magny could be almost unstoppable. The window for him to start making those strides, however, is rapidly closing.
Neither Man Should Be Fighting Top-10 Competition Right Now
Please give us Demian Maia vs. Gunnar Nelson. Please.
— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) August 2, 2015
As stated, Magny's days as a top-10 welterweight are done. It's sad that the door has to slam so hard, but the welterweight division is just too competitive right now for this kind of loss to go unnoticed.
As for Maia, while he could reasonably be slotted against fighters like Tyron Woodley or Matt Brown, that isn't what is best for him, or the division right now. Right now, Maia should be fighting one of the many, many solid fighters looking to get a signature win.
Gunnar Nelson, as MMAFighting.com tweeted, makes a lot of sense. So, too, does fellow veteran Rick Story. How about Jorge Masvidal? Benson Henderson? A rematch with Dong-Hyun Kim?
There are a lot of options.
