None of it was easy, but Nick Maximov won a tough split decision victory over Punahele Sorio at UFC Vegas 47..
With blood dripping into his eye for most of the fight, Maximov relied on his wrestling to take Soriano to the ground repeatedly, which helped him secure the win on the scorecards. Maximov was awarded the fight by two judges with 30-27 scores and 29-28 scores, while Soriano received a 29-28 score from the third official.
Maximov won the victory, moving to 8-0 for his career and 2-0 at the UFC.
“Props to him, he’s good,” Maximov said afterwards. It was great. It was exactly what I expected. He is a strong Hawaiian. So I’ve got nothing but respect for him. It would have been nice to finish, but it is .”
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The middleweights were swinging hard and heavy as soon as the action got started, which led to Maximov turning to his wrestling as he attempted to drag Soriano to the canvas. Maximov was initially on the floor, but Soriano managed to crawl free and get to his feet. Then Maximov unleashed a massive knee strike that smashed Maximov in the face
Maximov then ran ahead to make another attempt at takedown, but Soriano was not impressed and he took Soriano’s arm. However, the Hawaiian defensed well enough to stay out of trouble.
As time passed it was clear that Maximov was intent on dragging the fight down to the canvas with Soriano sprawling and attempting to scramble free from the takedown attempts. Maximov scored with takedowns but he couldn’t do any damage to Soriano, who made Maximov work for every position.
Maximov wasn’t actually punishing Soriano by using strikes. However, Maximov was giving Soriano fits for his wrestling. Maximov hung on like Velcro and never allowed The Contender Series veteran to breath. Replays later showed that one particular takedown ended with Soriano seemingly suffering a knee injury, which could have played a part in his inability to get back to his feet in the latter half of the fight.
Late in desperation, Soriano began to throw punches at the body, trying to make a comeback. But it was too little too late. Maximov’s grappling was simply too much.
Maximov was a long-time friend of Nick and Nate Diaz. He had an impressive support network behind him as he won another victory over Soriano.
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