Demian Maia’s turn not coming yet
November 17, 2008 by Gary Herman
One guy who wants to throw his hat in the cage as a possible opponent for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is Demian Maia. Maia quickly defeated Nate Quarry by submission at UFC 91. Maia believes he is prepared for the challenge.
“I feel ready for Anderson Silva,” said Maia. “I don’t want to say that I want to break his arm, but between us, I want to do that.”
While impressed with Maia’s performance, UFC President Dana White stopped short of naming him the number one contender.
“Joe Silva and I were talking about it,” said White, “I’d like to see Demian fight a few more times before Anderson Silva.”
he would beat everyone in that division…..his jiujitsu is the best in the ufc
he did look real good against nate quarry, but id like to see him take on a couple of the higher ranked fighters before a title shot. Maybe a henderson, or marquadt. fight against leites would be entertaining
I agree he should fight Hendo or Marquardt first. I think Marquardt is the number one contender in the middleweight division after his destruction of Thales Lieites (even though he lost) and Martin Kampmann.
With hendo fighting in January they won’t make Maia wait for that so i guess someone like Marquart is where it’s gunna end up.
He and Hazlett are the slickest sub guys around. Both are just filthy.
i still don’t really like all the hype behind Maia..
Just. . . every time i watch him fight, rather than seeing him destroy his opponent [like most of you], i see that his opponents didn’t really come with their A game..
case in point, Herman.. or Quarry..
i feel that MacDonald did pretty good in the bout, at least, from a defensive standpoint..
but the guys like Herman and Quarry could’ve brought so much more to the table
especially Quarry..
we all know he’s way better at sub defense than that..
every time i pick Maia’s opponents to win, and everytime he proves me wrong..
but. . . i’m just not impressed. . .
i don’t know why. . .
i guess i won’t be until he beats a top level opponent. .
Rich S.
Wow…..
Seriously?
I think Maia has a good chance to become a Champion someday. People forget that having outstanding jiu-jitsu as a base isn’t a bad start. He can only get better with his standup skill’s. They should set up a fight with him against Michael Bisping.
Hendo could coach the US team to fight again at 185 against Bisping if they have the coaches compete. Rich Franklin could too if he takes the role but he doesn’t have to go back to 185 either. In this case, Maia could fight Bisping after TUF. We could end up seeing Franklin vs. Machida II in 2009. Anything can happen.