Maia instantly took the fight to the mat and nabbed Fitch’s back. Fitch stood up and Maia is scaling him like a beast on his back. Maia is searching for the rear naked choke, but as everyone knows, Fitch likes to bait this position.Maia lost the body triangle position and ended up back on the feet. He instantly took Fitch down, but Fitch got back to his feet. Maia took Fitch’s back again while on the ground and got the body triangle again as well. Round one ended with Maia on Fitch’s back and it was that way the entire round.
Fitch and Maia trade blows for the first thirty seconds, until Maia decided to take the fight to the ground. Fitch scrambled back to his feet. Once again Maia landed a nice trip and took Fitch’s back with almost four minutes to work. A tight rear naked choke was locked in, but Fitch fought through it. Maia once again controlled the back of Fitch the entire round.
Fitch went for a headkick to start the round and Maia ducked under and took Fitch’s back. A scramble allowed Fitch to end up in a better position, but still tied up on the cage. Maia took the fight to the ground and ended up on Fitch’s back AGAIN. The two break and end up on their feet, but Maia goes for a takedown again. Fitch got a guillotine attempt on the way in and ended up on top of Maia for the first time in the fight. Maia fought his way back to his feet and ended up on Fitch’s back again. Fitch got Fitch’d for the entire fight.
(Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
