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The UFC's welterweight division has long been one of the deepest collectives under the promotion's banner, and the spotlight shone on the 170-pound fold at UFC Fight Night 62. A main event tilt between Demian Maia and Ryan LaFlare headlined the UFC's return to Rio de Janeiro Saturday night. The bout featured two fighters at crucial junctures of their careers.

Despite the 37-year-old former middleweight title challenger getting off to a hot start when he initially dropped down to the welterweight division, things have been a bit rocky for Maia as of late. The Brazilian grappling ace has found success in only one of his past three showings, and that issue was compounded when he was sidelined for a lengthy stint due to a staph infection in his collarbone.

Nevertheless, Maia received a clean bill of health at the start of 2015, and he came into Fight Night 62 looking to resume his run toward a shot at the 170-pound title.

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While he has yet to become an official contender in the welterweight fold, LaFlare has been making steady progress in that direction over the past two years. The Team Blackzilians fighter had kept his perfect record intact with four victories in the UFC and 11 total going into Saturday. And where the 31-year-old New York native has garnered attention for his solid striking and poise thus far inside the Octagon, he would need to defeat an established threat from the higher ranks of the division before he could jump to the next tier.

The stakes were high for both competitors in the main event at Fight Night 62, and it was the Brazilian who showed up and handled business. In a true return to form, Maia used his superior grappling skills to neutralize LaFlare in the early rounds and then wear him down as the fight went on. The end result was a unanimous decision in favor of Maia, who made a triumphant return on his native soil.

Let's take a look at the good, bad and strange from UFC Fight Night 62.

The Good

On Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Maia officially marked his return to the welterweight division.

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The Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard survived a dangerous staph infection that had spread into his shoulder and battled back to once again compete inside the Octagon. Prior to his forced layoff, the 37-year-old Sao Paulo native was just coming out of one of the roughest stretches of his career, as he'd won only one of his three most recent bouts, which was a stark contrast to the hot streak he went on after dropping down from the middleweight ranks.

Nevertheless, he was determined to reignite his run toward the 170-pound title at Fight Night 62, and the first obstacle in his path was LaFlare. The Team Blackzilians fighter came into the tilt highly touted and undefeated, but that status would change in the aftermath of the 25-minute tilt.

Maia was able to put the 31-year-old New York native on the canvas with consistency throughout the fight, as LaFlare battled to defend himself from Maia's submissions from his back. And while LaFlare survived to the bell, those efforts couldn't stop him from being dominated by the savvy veteran.

When the final bell sounded, Maia walked away with a lopsided unanimous-decision victory, reclaiming his footing in the talented ranks of the welterweight fold.

*** Despite all the talent he possesses, putting together wins has been a difficult task for Erick Silva to accomplish inside the Octagon. The 30-year-old Brazilian wields a dynamic striking attack and dangerous submission skills, yet he has struggled where consistency is concerned.

The aggressive welterweight may have finally gotten over that particular hump when he submitted veteran Josh Koscheck in the opening round to pick up his second consecutive victory. True to form, Silva came out throwing big shots and then caught an opening created by a Koscheck mistake to force the former title challenger to tap out to the choke.

*** The team at Nova Uniao is regarded as one of the best camps in MMA, and it has another rising talent in Leonardo Santos. The lightweight grappling ace once again put his talents on display as he locked on a rear-naked choke on Tony Martin to secure the second-round finish at Fight Night 62.

The rangy Brazilian spent the first round feeling out his opposition and then wasted no time putting Martin on the canvas, where he locked in the choke shortly into the second frame. Santos' victory in Rio brings his current streak to nine consecutive outings without a loss.

*** Following a loss to Cat Zingano in her last fight, Amanda Nunes came into her bout with Shayna Baszler determined to turn things around and get back on track. The Lioness promised aggression from the opening bell, and she certainly delivered in that regard, as she folded up "The Queen of Spades" in quick fashion.

Nunes dropped kicks on the savvy veteran early and often as she pounded out the first-round finish. It was an impressive showing for the 26-year-old Brazilian, and the win over Baszler makes her successful in three of her past four showings inside the Octagon.

*** There is a lot of expectation surrounding Gilbert Burns' emergence in the lightweight division. The multi-time jiu-jitsu world champion-turned-undefeated mixed martial artist had been lights out inside the Octagon coming into Fight Night 62, and there was plenty of pressure on him to keep things rolling on Saturday night.

This rings especially true since his original opponent Josh Thomson pulled out with injury, and Burns went from facing a Top 10 opponent to one who is relatively unknown in Alex Oliveira. While his performance wasn't necessarily aces, Durinho came alive in the final round and forced Oliveira to tap from an armbar late in the third frame.

Although defeating Oliveira won't catapult Burns up the divisional rankings, the win keeps his momentum intact. It will also position him to get a higher-profile opponent in his next outing.

*** When a fighter begins to pick up momentum, it's a special thing to watch, and Godofredo Pepey is coming into his own inside the Octagon. The 27-year-old Brazilian had earned back-to-back performance bonuses coming into his tilt with Andre Fili at Fight Night 62, and he put in a strong bid for a third straight with his triangle submission victory over the Team Alpha Male representative.

Pepey surprised Fili when he jumped up to lock in the triangle when his back was against the fence, and he showed tremendous patience as he held onto the choke despite Fili's best efforts to escape. The Sacramento-based fighter would eventually tap and give Pepey his third consecutive victory under the UFC banner.

*** Brazilian featherweight Kevin Souza kept his winning streak alive at Fight Night 62 as he defeated Katsunori Kikuno with an impressive first-round knockout. The 30-year-old striker circled the Japanese veteran until he found the opportunity he was looking for, unleashing a straight right hand that put Kikuno on the deck.

With the victory, Souza has now won 10 consecutive bouts—three of which have come under the UFC banner. While he's still a ways out from the upper level of the featherweight ranks, Souza continues to make solid progress every time he steps into the cage, and it will be interesting to see who matchmaker Sean Shelby pairs him up with next.

*** After his stint on The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, Fredy Serrano came into Fight Night 62 looking to make his first official showing under the UFC banner a successful one. The former Olympic wrestler squared off with Bentley Syler to kick off the card in Rio de Janeiro and did an impressive job of igniting the Brazilian crowd. The Colombian flyweight clearly won the first two rounds and then put a thunderous stamp on his debut by blistering his opponent with a brutal uppercut that put Syler out before he hit the canvas.

The Bad

The end of the UFC road has finally arrived for Koscheck.

While he's one of the few fighters remaining from the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter, there is a high probability Kos made his final walk to the Octagon on Saturday night, as he suffered his fifth consecutive loss at the hands of Erick Silva. After being defeated by Jake Ellenberger three weeks back at UFC 184 in Los Angeles, it was likely the Pennsylvania native would take a bit of time off to recoup and recover. Yet, when Ben Saunders had to bow out of his tilt with the Brazilian striker due to injury, an opportunity materialized for Koscheck to seek quick redemption.

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Nevertheless, it would ultimately be an ill-fated decision, as Koscheck tapped to a Silva choke late in the opening frame. Where most fighters who step up on short notice are considered safe from losing their roster spots even with a loss, it would be difficult to imagine Koscheck holding onto his spot after dropping five bouts in a row. And even though the Fresno-based fighter has been a perennial contender in the welterweight ranks for a large part of the past decade, the 37-year-old former NCAA D-I national champion wrestler just hasn't been the same fighter over the past few years.

Should his release come to pass in the weeks following Fight Night 62, Koscheck's legacy as a scrappy, anytime, anyplace fighter will always endure. Following his stint on TUF, the brash blond quickly established himself as one of the best villains in mixed martial arts. He was the fighter that fans loved to hate, but he always put on a show.

Now that it's all but guaranteed that show—at least the UFC portion—will be coming to an end in the near future, Koscheck can be proud of what he accomplished inside the Octagon.

*** Shayna Baszler is widely considered to be one of the original pioneers of women's MMA. And while she's earned her stripes and logged many battles inside the cage, there probably aren't too many more fights inside of the Octagon left for The Queen of Spades. The 34-year-old South Dakota native found herself on the business end of a beating handed out by Amanda Nunes at Fight Night 62, succumbing to strikes early in the opening round.

Her loss on Saturday night makes Baszler unsuccessful in both of her outings under the UFC banner and extends her rough skid to three consecutive setbacks.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Baszler has been finished in each of those three fights and has only found victory in one of her past five bouts. While a losing streak is never a good look, Baszler's performances in those fights are a far cry from the game scrapper she used to be.

The biggest saving grace where the veteran bantamweight is concerned is her association with women's 135-pound champion Ronda Rousey as a member of the Four Horsewomen. Being connected to the Rowdy one may buy her another fight or two, but even that won't matter if Baszler can't find her footing inside the cage.

The Strange

Where most of the chaos that transpires inside the cage is typically generated by the fighters, referees have been known to add their own personal flavor from time to time.

Last month at UFC 184 in Los Angeles, Jerin Valel put on few dubious performances in the bouts he officiated and drew the ire of fight fans as his slow responses endangered a couple of fighters. Granted, calling the action inside the cage is a hectic affair, but Valel was slow to stop fights where one competitor had already choked the living daylights out of the other.

Fortunately for Valel, his missteps will now take a backseat to Eduardo Herdy, as the referee calling the bout between Christos Giagos and Jorge de Oliveira pulled one of the worst stoppages in recent memory. The Team Oyama fighter capitalized on the absence of his opponent's ground game as he quickly mounted De Oliveira and began to pound away. The Brazilian lightweight quickly gave up his back, and Giagos took advantage of the opening and locked in a rear-naked choke.

Several seconds later, De Oliveira began to tap, which normally would have brought an end to the fight, but Herdy let the choke continue despite being in the proper position. He continued to tap several more times as he looked up at the official with floating eyes until the referee finally stepped in and stopped the fight.

And while his sluggish reaction caused a stir on social media, the recent trend of referees blanking out in critical moments needs to come to an end. Their No. 1 priority inside the cage is to keep the fighters safe, and letting chokes go on for an extended amount of time is dangerous. With that in mind, hopefully the commissions will take a hard look at the officials they are currently using and make some changes when referees fail to make the grade.

That said, Herdy wasn't done screwing things up in Rio on Saturday night, as he plummeted even further down the credibility list in his next showing. Where he let De Oliveira get choked far too long, he jumped the gun far too early when Leandro Silva worked for a guillotine against Drew Dober. The Brazilian was working for the submission off his back, and while the Nebraska native did not appear to be in real danger, Herdy stepped in and grabbed Dober's arm, which brought an end to the fight.

Or it did, then didn't and did again as Herdy couldn't seem to make his mind up as to what his call would be. After a few curious looks, Herdy finally waved off the bout and awarded the victory to Silva for a choke that wasn't locked in.

Dober looked confused. Fight fans ignited into an uproar on Twitter, and even the commentary team of Jon Anik and Kenny Florian could not believe what had just happened inside the Octagon.

While such a strange stoppage is unfortunate for all parties involved, it's especially so for Dober as the Omaha-based fighter has now lost three of his four showings inside the Octagon. On Saturday night, his loss didn't come against Silva; it came courtesy of Herdy, who seems to have no clue what he's doing inside the cage.

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.