Demian Maia started his UFC career in exciting fashion,with five straight submission victories. His victims included former number one contenders, Nate Quarry and Chael Sonnen. Since then however he’s submitted only one of his 14 opponents.
Maia, a former ADCC champion, hasn’t submitted anyone but Rick Story since suffering a brutal knockout loss to Nate Marquardt in 2009, but the Brazilian is adamant that the lack of finishes is his opponents’ fault.
“People always go to the ground with me trying to just hold me. They stall and wait for the referee to stand them back up so they can start it all over,” Said Maia during UFC media day recently in Rio de Janeiro.”It’s hard to fight jiu-jitsu like that, the way rules are today. If we fought like the old days, with no time limit, it would be better to work. We only have five minutes to work per round so it’s complicated, especially because everybody knows that my ground game is good.”
Maia will have the opportunity to return to his finishing ways on March 21, when he headlines UFC Fight Night 62 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, against up-and-comer Ryan LaFlare. LaFlare is undefeated in the career thus far with an impressive win over John Howard at UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs. Nogueira. Maia has completely changed up his training camp in preparation for this fight.
“I’m doing my camp in Las Vegas.Training with Robert Drysdale and Marcelo Garcia, and also using the UFC Gym to hit pads with my boxing coach.”
UFC Fight Night 62 will mark Maia’s first fight since May 2014. The Brazilian was forced out of action for a considerable amount of time after being diagnosed with a bone infection.
“I’m 100 percent now. It was a tough moment for me. I had a terrible bone infection on my shoulder and was in bad shape, especially after my third trip to the hospital. When I recovered, I started training hard and felt great for this fight.”
While many fighters focus solely on the pursuit of titles, Maia’s main priority is returning to the cage and as far as he is concerned, LaFlare will be a tough test regardless of his place in the rankings.
“He’s ranked below me, but he’s undefeated. He’s a tough guy for never losing. It’s always hard to fight athletes who never lost,” Maia said. “He always puts his opponents in tough situations. About the title, I’m ranked No. 7 and I hope to move up with a win. But I don’t want to be too obsessed about it. I want to think about this fight only.”