In a few short weeks noted Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Demian Maia (14-2) will put his submission skills up against one of the top wrestlers in the UFC middleweight division, Mark ‘The Filipino Wrecking Machine’ Muñoz.
Both men are slated to meet on June 11 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on the main card of UFC 131. Maia is looking for his third win and coming off a unanimous decision victory over Kendall Grove, an opponent Muñoz beat by second round TKO last year.
Keeping that in mind, Maia is well aware of the style that ‘The Filipino Wrecking Machine’ will try and implement against him, noting to Tatame.com that Muñoz striking needs to be respected but it’s something he’s prepared for.
“Yeah, I’m always cool fighting form the bottom. I’ve been training it, I do Jiu-Jitsu for many years and the only difference is that in Jiu-Jitsu you don’t have to train the guard to prevent you from being punched right in the face when you have your back against the floor.”
“Man, I always train the stand-up game, Jiu-Jitsu and takedowns, so it’s not any different now. I went to the United States a few times, like I did a little while ago when I went there to train Wrestling, specifically the take downs part, but I’m always training Wrestling, because I believe Wrestling is a part of Jiu-Jitsu, so what I do is train Jiu-Jitsu and also train the takedowns, because without it I can’t bring my opponent to my game, which is the ground game…”
“He’s an American national Wrestling champion, so he’s a guy who’s top in what he does… He knocked out Kendall Grove, the guy I beat up on a unanimous decision of the judges, so he deserves to be respected and seen as a great challenge like I told you. “