Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia came up short in his attempt to win back-to-back fights by losing a split decision fight to Chris Weidman.
The majority of the bout went as one would expect to see from a standup battle between two grapplers. Most of the exchanges were ugly, winding punches, but there were a few bright spots of activity between the two men.
One thing is for sure, Maia needs to work on his cardio.
I’m not sure if he had a tough weight cut or just simply gassed out, but in the third round, Maia looked awful. There was one takedown attempt that saw Maia simply bend over at the hips and collapse into Weidman’s legs.
It’s good that Maia is working on his striking, but he may have lost sight of what got him to the big dance—his submission skills.
Even if Maia failed to get a takedown, the fight likely would’ve went to the ground where Maia’s jiu-jitsu can end the fight at a moment’s notice.
To his credit, Weidman was able to neutralize the jiu-jitsu of Maia in the handful of takedowns he was able to secure.
As for what’s next for the former title challenger, a rematch against Weidman could be a possibility.
The fight may have been uneventful, but it would be interesting to see what a fight would look like with both men having a full camp behind them.
If that rematch doesn’t happen, there’s two possible opponents that could fit the bill for Maia’s next opponents.
A bout against Alan Belcher would be an interesting grappler-against-striker matchup. And, Belcher hasn’t fought since September after making a return from a career threatening injury.
Recently, Dana White discussed a possible return to the Octagon for Nate Marquardt and seemed to be fairly positive that it could happen. A rematch with Marquardt would give us the bout we were “cheated” to by Marquardt’s thunderous punch.
Whatever the case may be—and whoever the opponent is—Maia needs to have a better showing than he did in Chicago. We know Maia is better than what he looked like tonight.
Let’s hope he knows it, too.
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