Former middleweight contender turned welterweight Demian Maia will continue his 170-pound efforts as he takes on welterweight standout Rick Story as part of the UFC 153 fight card. Story first Tweeted the news and MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani confirmed it with sources close to the situation.
UFC 153 is set to take place October 13th at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is expected to defend his title against Erik Koch in the headlining fight.
Maia, 34, most recently competed and made his welterweight debut at UFC 148 where he defeated Dong Hyun Kim by TKO due to injury. At middleweight, he holds wins over Ed Herman, Nate Quarry, Kendall Grove and Dan Miller. In terms of accomplishments in sport jiu-jitsu, he is arguably the UFC’s most decorated black belt.
Story, 27, has dropped two of his last three UFC fights. He most recently fought in June where he defeated Brock Jardine by unanimous decision. He holds notable victories over Thiago Alves, Jake Ellenberger (outside of the UFC), and Johny Hendricks.
At the time of this writing, he UFC has not formally announced this bout.