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Demian would meet former opponent Anderson Silva for his last fight before retirement, under the right conditions.
Former UFC middleweight and welterweight title challenger Demian Maia is not ready to call it quits just yet. A veteran of 32 fights in the Octagon, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt ended up knocked out by Gilbert Burns in his last outing, but does not wish to close his career on a loss, at least for now.
In an interview with Combate, Maia shared his desire to finish his UFC career as the man with most wins in the Octagon, a record currently held by Donald Cerrone. Although he did have plans to retire in his next outing, Maia might fight two more times after all, because he wants to say goodbye to his fans in the Octagon.
His wish might be a problem right now, though, given the current coronavirus pandemic that forced the UFC to hold events behind closed doors, which is one of the reasons why Demian considered postponed his retirement plans.
“I’m open for for one more fight if that’s the case, especially if it’s without a crowd. I wanted to say goodbye to the fans. Having lost my last fight also made me reconsider all that. It might be one or two, it’s all up to my negotiations with the UFC. The main point is a personal desire of mine. I want to beat Cerrone in number of wins and end my career as the guy with most UFC wins.”
In previous interviews, Maia expressed a wish to fight either Donald Cerrone or Diego Sanchez for his last fight, but there’s another veteran on his mind, as well. Now, Demian also considers a rematch against the first champion who defeated him in a title fight: former middleweight king Anderson Silva.
“It’s not about ‘or’, it’s about ‘if’. Diego Sanchez and Donald Cerrone, it could be either of them. I even considered a fight with Anderson Silva, but there’s the whole weight issue. Would he accept to fight me at catchweight? Dana White doesn’t like to do that. Is it advantageous for me to move up and fight him with that weight disavantadge? There are many possibilites to consider, which is why I didn’t mention this one.”
Before his defeat to Gilbert Burns, Maia (28-10) was on a three-fight winning streak, with victories over Lyman Good, Anthony Rocco Martin and most recently, back in October 2019, Ben Askren.