Demian Maia returned to the Octagon for the first time since being humiliated by Anderson Silva in April, defeating Mario Miranda by unanimous decision at UFC 118.

It wasn't a pretty fight, but it was a fight that Maia won handily, winning all three rounds on all three judges' cards.

Early in the fight Maia took Miranda to the ground and proceeded to methodically advance his position and get Miranda's back. Maia is one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, and it seemed just a matter of time before Maia would win by submission. But Miranda did a nice job of wriggling free and standing back up after a couple minutes of Maia controlling him. The rest of the round was fought standing up without either fighter doing much damage, but Maia clearly won the round because he controlled the action on the ground.

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After a bit of feeling out in the second round, Maia showed off his superior grappling again, taking Miranda down and mounting him near the cage. Maia controlled the rest of the round from the mount, but Miranda once again was able to ward Maia off just enough not to get submitted, and when Maia went for an arm bar late in the round, Miranda managed to break free and get back up.

At the start of the third round Miranda's corner told him he was down two rounds to none, but that didn't seem to create much of a sense of urgency in Miranda, who appeared to be worn down after Maia had controlled him for 10 minutes. Both fighters got a little sloppy and looked tired as the third round wore on, and the fight ended with Maia failing to submit Miranda with an arm bar despite getting into good position to do it.

Maia improved his record to 13-2, but he didn't do anything that would suggest he's worthy of getting another crack at the middleweight title any time soon. Miranda fell to 10-2.