Oh Maia Gosh: Why Demian Doesn’t Deserve His Title Shot
Posted by Jacob Lawton on February 18th, 2010
Pictured: Demian Maia being Knocked Out by Nate Marquardt at UFC 102.
Demian Maia is a world-class grappler. That needs to be said before I start to point out his flaws, and the flaws in his gaining of a title shot at UFC 112 next month in Abu Dhabi. His MMA record of 12-1 suggests a fantastic competitor – and he is – but he is far from the finished article, and far from the real deal. So let’s take a little look at Demian’s MMA journey, before we look at why he shouldn’t be next in line for the UFC Middleweight Title.
Maia had his first MMA fight in 2001, but it was not until 2005 that he made the full time jump from submission grappling to MMA. After a one off fight in Finland, Maia won the innagural Super Challenge tournament in Brazil, but it took a victory of Ryan Stout for small time American promotion GFC before he got his call up to the big league. He arrived in the UFC with a 6-0 record and the sort of grappling pedigree that, in the early years of MMA, would have guaranteed you success. He was like a more athletic Royce Gracie, fantastically gifted on the ground, but with next to no answer to stand up fighting.
The first five fights of Maia’s UFC career all ended by gnarly submissions, with three ending in the first round. But when you look at his opponents, all of them, bar Chael Sonnen, can be described as ‘average’. A selection of veterans who’d made their names in times where the competition was less talented, and newcomers with little combat sports experience. His victory over Sonnen was the first in his career that cause people to sit up and take notice; it’s one thing to triangle choke Ed Herman, it’s another to do the same to Chael Sonnen.
Which leads us to his bout with Nate Marquardt, and to ‘that’ punch. Maia was demolished in 21 seconds at UFC 102, and it was all his fault. With all his grappling pedigree, Maia decided to stand with Marquardt, who is famous for his heavy hands, and got punished. Maia has since claimed he was ready to engage Marquardt on the ground, and that the ref had called the fight early, but if you watch the replays, there can be no doubt that Marquardt put his lights out with the big right hand.
You’d think Maia would have learnt his lesson, the lesson that all MMA fighters must learn, that one about playing to your strengths and your opponent’s weaknesses. But no, at UFC 109, Maia decided to stand against Dan Miller. Miller is a good solid all rounder, and he has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but I doubt he would’ve been able to hang for long on the ground with a fresh Maia. Joe Rogan commented that Maia’s stand up had improved, but it still wasn’t good. And therein lies the problem.
If Demian Maia stands against Anderson Silva, he will get his head taken off. There shouldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind about that. Silva is one of the best strikers to grace this sport, period. He also has a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, and, unlike Miller, he has a wealth of in experience at utilising his skills; his time with the Nogueira brothers should have guaranteed his ability to apply his skills. Silva should stalemate Maia on the ground and destroy him standing. I don’t expect the fight to get out of the first; Marquardt has already questioned Maia’s chin, and Silva shouldn’t have any problem lighting him up. Maia fighting Silva will be one sided, predictable, and a waste of the great champion’s time when there are more appropriate opponents out there.
So, who do I think should take the fight off Maia and face Silva? No one. Wait until Sonnen or Belfort (preferably Sonnen) is fit to fight and pull Silva’s fight from the card. UFC 112 doesn’t need the additional drawing power of the Middleweight champion; it already has BJ Penn defending his title against wrestling star Frank Edgar, and Renzo Gracie’s long anticipated UFC debut against Matt Hughes. Those two fights make a great PPV headlining double act; there’s no need for Silva to fight on that card, so give him a few months off and wait until Sonnen or Belfort is ready to take the fight, and make a UFC title match that will be more competitive. Just my two pence.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
I disagree to a point; I think a Maia is as good a challenger as any and Silva wants to fight — so here we go. It’s not a perfect solution to Belfort being injured, but it’s the best available.
I certainly agree about it being “one sided and predictible” and yeah, it’s a good card that really doesn’t need the fight.
2010 is shaping up weird. If you count boxing in with MMA, does it seem like we’re losing more big fights than we are getting?
February 19th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I think it’s just another example of there being such a big difference between the top of the weight class and Anderson Silva. Just when a top guy gets some momentum going and seems to seperate themselves from the rest of the pack, they lose the fight that would get them a title shot as was the case with Marquardt, Okami, and then Maia.
Maia presents a unique challenge for Silva but I think he gets KO’d in quick fashion just trying to get the fight to the ground. The main problem is nobody is stepping up from the rest of the pack. It may well have been Vitor but now we have to wait for that one and they may end up doing Vitor/Sonnen in the meantime which really could be a disasterous matchup for Vitor if he gets taken down.
I’d hate to see another Leites-esque snooze fest, but I’d wager that Anderson heard enough about that last time to not let it happen again. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Maia pull guard and triangle choke or armbar Silva just to shake up the division a bit. Not that I think it will actually happen.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I’m a bit confused by your comments about Marquardt fight. One the one hand, it was only 21 seconds long. But at the same time, you feel comfortable asserting that Maia “decided” to stand with Marquardt for those 21 seconds, as though that was his strategy for the fight. I mean, the fight starts standing. I’d wager Maia spends the first 21 seconds of every fight on his feet. So what? It was Maia’s fault that he dropped his hands on a leg kick, sure, but that was a technical error, not some boneheaded strategic gaffe.
I also pretty sincerely doubt that it was his plan to stand with Miller. After all, he took him down more than once and tried for more takedowns than he completed besides. Miller did a good job of defending and getting up off his back (no mean feat). At a certain point it was clear that Maia was having MORE success on the feet than in trying to take it to the ground, so he adjusted his strategy and took a clear-cut decision. I’m not sure what there is to fault here.
“it’s one thing to triangle choke Ed Herman, it’s another to do the same to Chael Sonnen.”
Ed Herman: 5 submission losses, 3 by triangle.
Chael Sonnen: 6 submission losses, 3 by triangle.
I don’t think it was a big surprise for Maia to have triangled either of these guys. Both were underdogs against him, and it’s only since then that Sonnen has come to be regarded as more than a journeyman.
I won’t argue that he deserves a title shot. He is the best option if they’re going to insist on having an Anderson Silva title defense on the card, though.
February 19th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
JRN: To the comments about the Triangle-ing - yeah, I need to do more thorough research.
On the Marquardt fight, though, watch how Maia gets caught as he leads in. He’s coming in to strike with Marquardt, leaping into a punch rather than a shoot takedown or a clinch attempt. Before the fight, Maia even stated that he thought he’d be able to stand up with Marquardt, if my memory doesn’t fail me.
Bryan: Yeah, it’d be fun for Maia to win, but I can’t see it happening. I don’t think any of us do.
Tommy: We’ve lost a couple, but for MMA the year ahead is bright: Carwin-Lesnar, Rampage-Rashad, Machida-Rua II, and that’s just the UFC. Strikeforce adds Werdum-Fedor and Shields-Henderson. All high profile fights I’d part with money to see, and those are all before the halfway point this year. Boxing’s taken the bigger hit in losing Mayweather-Pacqiao, as it just doesn’t have the same depth (and promotional reliabilty) that MMA does. I don’t have any big boxing fights on my radar atm, but that might just be because it takes a backseat to a variety of other sports.
February 19th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Well, if Maia did indeed comment afterward that he intended to strike with Marquardt, then that changes everything! Still, the way you wrote it made it sound as if that was something that could be inferred from the 21 seconds of the fight itself. And Maia often sets up clinch or takedown attempts with strikes, so I don’t think his merely leading with a kick is indicative of anything.