On Tuesday, it was announced that Mark Munoz was forced out of his matchup against Chael Sonnen, and that Michael Bisping would be stepping up to face Sonnen.
However, Bisping’s original opponent, Demian Maia, is now left in limbo.
Maia was going to face Bisping, and then the winner of that was going to face the winner of Sonnen-Munoz-Anderson Silva.
Now, Maia needs an opponent to stay on the card.
There are several options for who Maia could fight, so let’s take a quick look at the potential opponents.
Fighters you can immediately rule out include Anderson Silva due to injury, Vitor Belfort due to an already agreed upon fight with Wanderlei Silva—who you can also rule out—Yushin Okami due to an already scheduled fight with Tim Boetsch, Brian Stann due to a scheduled fight with Alessio Sakara and Chris Leben due to a drug suspension.
There are plenty of lower level fighters who could step up to face Maia, but there are really only two solid contenders for Demian Maia to fight.
The first fighter is Alan Belcher. Belcher is 17-6, and is one of the most exciting fighters in the middleweight division. Belcher is on a three-fight win streak, and has faced guys such as Yushin Okami and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
The other option, and most preferable, would be Rousimar Palhares.
Palhares just fought at UFC 142, where he earned a first round submission victory over Mike Massenzio, and left the cage unscathed.
Palhares and Maia are two of the top jiu-jitsu fighters in MMA today, and a fight between these two would be an epic grappling battle.
If this fight happens, somebody would have a new limb to put on their mantle.
Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @TimMcTiernan.
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