UFC 153 Results: Why Demian Maia Defeated Rick Story

Demian Maia put Rick Story into a vicious rear-naked choke, stopping their UFC 153 bout at 2:30 of the first round.

Maia's choke drew blood, as the rear-naked choke looked more like a neck crank, but a graphic visual of Story spitting blood will show that the damage was done.

It wasn't all bad for Story to start out, but Maia just took over when he went for a takedown.

Story did a good job, but a reason Maia won was because of his second effort.  He never gave up on the initial takedown and just kept at it.

It seems as if Maia has a new mindset, starting fresh in the welterweight division.

Since coming down to 170, Maia is 2-0 in two first-round finishes.  Before that, Maia went 4-3 in contests that were all decided by judges' scorecards.

Maia had excellent balance in trying to prevent Story from standing up.  Story did get to his feet, but the quick thinker thought ahead and got in position to get a right hook in and sink a choke.

Story is no stranger to the judges' scorecards, as his last five bouts have gone the distance going into this fight.  Of course, Story has now lost three of his last four.

Overall, it just seemed like Maia was more prepared and ready to go.  Not to take anything from Story, but Maia came in with a plan, looked for a quick opportunity out of the gate and pounced with everything he had.

What do you think?

Mark Pare is a Featured Columnist. You can follow him on Twitter, and don't forget to check out his sportswriter page.