UFC 131 Fight Card Features A Styles Clash Between Demian Maia and Mark Munoz
Demian Maia’s mixed martial arts career was at a crossroads following an embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 112. He is one of the best submission fighters in the history of the sport, but he had lost two of his previous three fights following that loss. He knows that his style has to evolve if he wants to get back into championship contention.
From Ben Fowlkes (via MMAFighting.com):
“When I see wrestlers fight, they train a lot of boxing because they don’t want to end up on bottom,” Maia said. “I don’t have this issue. I know he’s very powerful when he’s on top, but I’m okay with that. I don’t think it’s going to be just a stand-up fight.”
Even if it is, however, Maia wouldn’t necessarily run from that. Earlier in his career he rushed to get opponents to the mat because, as Maia put it, he was “really afraid” of standing and trading punches. Now he’s more comfortable on the feet, even if his decision to contest more fights there has led to fewer submission wins lately.
“Now I’m more relaxed, so I think sometimes I don’t put enough on the ground to submit [them]. I think it’s just, I’m changing my style and it will come back,” he said.
Maia is still not a great striker, and he probably never will be, but if he can reach a point where his stand-up game isn’t a weakness, he will be very dangerous.
He is sacrificing some elements of his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills by trying to become more adept at the stand-up, but when you suffer a loss like he did against Silva you are going to try anything.
Munoz presents an interesting challenge because despite his solid wrestling background, he is more comfortable standing and trading with opponents.
If Maia wanted the perfect fight to test his stand-up skills, this is it. I look for him to stand and trade with Munoz for a round to see how far his skills have come. If he looks good, he will continue to do it. If he doesn’t, or if he finds himself falling behind in points, he will use his BJJ to grind out a victory.
Either way, I see Maia winning this fight via decision in a very close fight.