When it comes to recent form, Demian Maia (24 – 6) has a pretty strong case in his favor. He has six consecutive wins to his name in his past six fights and is looking sharp and dangerous. Maia fights in the welterweight division, but this is not where he started off. Maia was originally a middleweight prior to dropping to 170 lbs. While fighting in the middleweight division, he did not necessarily enjoy the same kind of success as he does now. He had ups and downs. However, since entering the welterweight division, Maia has looked pretty ruthless. He started off in the division with wins against some of the divisions best fighters such as Dong-Hyun Kim, Rick Story and Jon Fitch.
Maia’s strong suits most certainly include his grappling game, when the fight gets horizontal, Maia has some insidious grips and techniques which will have even the toughest fighters tapping out.
On the other hand, Jorge Masvidal is eager to, in his own words, “take out all the guys they (the UFC) don’t like”. Masvidal to has reignited his career with a move to the welterweight division and he will be looking to go from UFC’s go-to hitman to an actual title contender, a champion!
However, while Masvidal is not low on confidence, does he really have what it takes to take out Demian Maia? We think if the fight goes to ground, then Masvidal may just run out of gas. For this UFC 211 prediction, we are going with Maia to win by unanimous decision.