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Former UFC title contender Demian Maia says he’s retiring soon.
Demian Maia’s three fight winning streak came to a halt this past weekend at UFC Brasilia. He found some success on the ground against a fellow jiujitsu world champion in Gilbert Burns, but Maia was eventually clipped by a left hook and finished for the first time as a welterweight.
The 42-year-old knows that his impressive UFC career is coming to a close, and the jiu-jitsu legend wants to face a fellow veteran in his final MMA bout.
“Yes for sure. I want one more [fight] and then probably retire,” Maia told the media, (transcribed by MMA Fighting).
“There’s two guys — one is Diego Sanchez, because he’s been asking for this fight for a long time so I want to fight him in the last fight,” Maia explained. “A good last fight because he’s a old legend, too.
“The other one is [Donald] Cerrone, also would be interesting because he has one win more [in the UFC] than I [do].”
Apart from the two veterans Maia mentioned, Bloody Elbow’s Zane Simon did some matchmaking of his own recently, suggesting an intriguing, albeit unlikely clash with either of the Diaz brothers instead.
Maia joined the UFC back in 2007, and has fought 32 times in his 13 years with the company. He has an overall record of 28-10, competing in both welterweight and middleweight, where he received a title shot against Anderson Silva back in 2010.
Known as one of the best grapplers in MMA history, Maia has remained a top contender at 170 lbs since dropping down in 2012. He has quality wins over the likes of Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren, Carlos Condit, Jon Fitch, Matt Brown, Gunnar Nelson, and several others.