Two Brazilian middleweights will face off in Houston this October, when Demian Maia meets Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. Maia announced the fight on his Twitter account this afternoon.
Maia and Santiago are both coming off of losses, although Santiago’s (a knockout against Brian Stann) was certainly a lot more decisive than Maia’s close decision loss to Mark Munoz. Although both men are BJJ black belts, Maia is certainly a much higher-level grappler than Santiago, while Santiago’s striking game is more developed than Maia’s, although Maia did show marked improvement in his stand-up against Munoz, so this should be an interesting fight.
Demian Maia (14-3)
Loss Mark Munoz (unam. decision) – UFC 131
Win Kendall Grove (unam. decision) – TUF 12 Finale
Win Mario Miranda (unam. decision) – UFC 118
Jorge Santiago (23-9)
Loss Brian Stann (TKO – punches) – UFC 130
Win Kazuo Misaki (TKO – corner stoppage) – Sengoku 14
Win Mamed Khalidov (unam. decision) – Sengoku 12