On Saturday at the UFC’s ESPN+ 2 card in Fortaleza, Brazil, Demian Maia will be entering his 34th professional fight and his 28th in the UFC. And while inevitable retirement may be looming, the 41-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace is not looking towards that direction just yet.
”I do [see retirement coming soon], but not because of the drop in my performance,” Maia told ESPN. “More because of the time I want to have to do other things. When you’re a professional fighter, you pretty much live to train because you never know when you could be called for a fight.
“If I’m retiring after the three fights that I have left on my contract, it’s because I want to put effort and energy in other parts of my life like my affiliate academies around the world, my seminars, TV and maybe a podcast I want to do. I don’t have time to do it all right now. That’s the only reason why I think about the retirement.”
Maia is currently on a three-fight skid, incurring decision losses against top-tier welterweights, including champion Tyron Woodley. But for him, there remains to be a reason to keep his career going.
”I have three more fights on my contract. After those three fights, I’ll decide whether I want to continue or not,” he said. “I also want to see how I do in those three fights. I’m 41. I don’t know in one year how I’m going to feel. If my performance drops, I don’t want to keep going. I don’t want to have brain damage or something because I want to keep going.
“As long as my performances go well, I will keep going.”
Maia is scheduled to face former Bellator welterweight champion Lyman Good, who is coming off a first-round knockout win over Ben Saunders at UFC 230 last November.