Tag: Demian Maia

Armchair Matchmaker: UFC 136 Edition

(If Jesse Ventura ever sees this, someone out there is going to get sued. / Props to MMAFighting.)  

As a long time UFC fan, I’ve recently noticed that their marketing team has seemingly taken a break from using corny phrases to label their events. In fact, the last UFC pay-per-view to not be named after the fighters in the main event was back at UFC 125: Resolution, which featured the eventual draw between, you guessed it, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. You just don’t see that kind of irony everyday.

UFC 136 was actually able to provide us with closure, however — more closure in fact than any card in quite a while. Not only did Edgar vindicate himself in triumphant fashion, but Jose Aldo proved to many of his critics that his gas tank is not an issue, Kenny Florian proved that he will never, ever, win a title fight, and Chael Sonnen proved that ring rust is for the weak. But now, we look to the future, and more importantly, try to predict it for the weekend’s big winners. So if you think our future match-ups are garbage, be sure to let us know in the comments section below.


(If Jesse Ventura ever sees this, someone out there is going to get sued. / Props to MMAFighting.)  

As a long time UFC fan, I’ve recently noticed that their marketing team has seemingly taken a break from using corny phrases to label their events. In fact, the last UFC pay-per-view to not be named after the fighters in the main event was back at UFC 125: Resolution, which featured the eventual draw between, you guessed it, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. You just don’t see that kind of irony everyday.

UFC 136 was actually able to provide us with closure, however — more closure in fact than any card in quite a while. Not only did Edgar vindicate himself in triumphant fashion, but Jose Aldo proved to many of his critics that his gas tank is not an issue, Kenny Florian proved that he will never, ever, win a title fight, and Chael Sonnen proved that ring rust is for the weak. But now, we look to the future, and more importantly, try to predict it for the weekend’s big winners. So if you think our future match-ups are garbage, be sure to let us know in the comments section below.

Frankie Edgar: There weren’t many of us out there who picked Edgar to finish Maynard in such decisive fashion, let alone with strikes. But with his brilliant come from behind win, Edgar showcased yet another ever improving aspect of his game, and has emphatically earned his spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, though maybe not as high up as Dana would think. Though it seems Gilbert Melendez is destined for the next shot, we think the winner of the Ben Henderson/Clay Guida match deserves it just as much, if not more. Henderson presents many of the same challenges to Edgar as Maynard did, so it would be interesting to see if he would fare any better. And the thought of seeing Edgar and Guida bounce around like they had just tasted sugar for the first time is enough to give us an epileptic seizure.

Jose Aldo: I may be in the minority here, but I wasn’t exactly blown away by Aldo’s performance against “Kenflo” this past weekend. Yes, his takedown defense looked great, but let’s not forget that wrestling has never been Florian’s strong suit. Chad Mendes, on the other hand, has absolutely dominated past opponents with his wrestling, and his stand up is improving by the day. If he can get inside on Aldo, we could be seeing a very different kind of riddle for Aldo to solve. But outside of Mendes and a possible future rematch with Mark Hominick, there don’t seem to be many featherweight match-ups at the moment that spark a lot of interest. Lightweight however, is an entirely different story…

Chael Sonnen: You have to be one arrogant son of a bitch to think that you cannot only hand pick your future opponent’s, but pick the day on which you will fight them as well. Luckily, Chael Sonnen’s arrogance is beginning to take on it’s own persona, and it’s getting harder and harder to disagree with the guy. He dominated a game Brian Stann despite being away from the octagon for over a year, and he made it look easy. Dana White has admitted it would be foolish not to book this rematch, and for once we’re in agreement with “The Baldfather.” Some people are arguing for a Dan Henderson rematch, given he gets past Shogun, but considering that fight is being held at light heavyweight, we don’t really see why the winner would necessarily deserve it over Sonnen, especially since Shogun clearly has no middleweight aspirations. Book it Dana…book it and they will come.

Joe Lauzon: It took “J-Lau” less than a minute to end Melvin Guillard’s hopes of getting the next lightweight title shot and remind us of why he is one of the most dangerous guys in the division. Though his cardio has long been questionable, there’s no doubting the kid’s killer instinct, and it would be nice to see him put together a nice win streak for once. Giving him a crack at the winner of Siver/Cerrone or Dos Anjos/Tibau would really help thin the herd of potential contenders, and that is one thing the lightweight division could use. Another option, and perhaps the one with the biggest potential for fireworks, would be Nate Diaz. This is of course based on the assumption that Nate Diaz decides to hang out at lightweight for a while, and who knows with that guy.

Demian Maia: Maia’s victory over Jorge Santiago was about as typical as could be expected. It showcased his well known ability to control a fighter on the ground while highlighting the fact that his stand up still has a ways to go. Matching him up against someone like Alan Belcher would really let us know where exactly he stands in the middleweight division, but the grappling fanatic in me would really like to see how he’d fare against someone like Rousimar Palhares, who’s striking is quickly becoming as tenacious as his ground game.

Anthony Pettis: After being wrestlefucked by Clay Guida in his UFC debut, the final WEC lightweight champion seemed eager to prove that he is constantly improving upon his weaknesses with a takedown oriented victory over Jeremy Stephens. A fight against someone equally well rounded, like Jim Miller, would be a nice measuring stick for Pettis, as would a match against the resurgent Sam Stout. Or if we really wanted to see how far his wrestling is coming, we could wake Gray Maynard up and throw him in “Showtime’s” direction.

Oh, and can someone throw Jorge Santiago a fricken bone? The poor guy has had about the worst run of luck in the UFC that I can remember, and I’d really just love to see him pull off one of these again.

We’ll let you decide the loser’s fates in the comment section…choose wisely. 

-Danga 

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 136

Filed under: UFCUFC 136 brought us two title fights, at least one colossal upset, and a post-fight interview that would have made Ric Flair stand up and say ‘Woooooo!’

Now that it’s all over, time to sort through the wreckage in search of the biggest …

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Frankie EdgarUFC 136 brought us two title fights, at least one colossal upset, and a post-fight interview that would have made Ric Flair stand up and say ‘Woooooo!’

Now that it’s all over, time to sort through the wreckage in search of the biggest winners, losers, and everything in between.

Biggest Winner: Frankie Edgar
Dana White compared his fourth-round knockout victory to a Rocky movie, but that’s not terribly accurate, since you can actually understand Edgar when he speaks. Also unlike Rocky, Edgar’s series of battles with his nemesis only got more and more exciting with each installment, and without any help from Mr. T.

Thanks be to Crom that this trilogy is finally over, though. Edgar’s win put the final stamp on it, and hopefully also convinced the last few holdouts that he is indeed the one true lightweight champ, so they can stop waiting for the messiah that they seem to think is still out there somewhere. Between his defensive wrestling skills, his mongoose-like quickness on the feet, and now his thoroughly proven ability to get knocked around like a ping-pong ball early and still come back with a ferocity, he’s not only a tough opponent but also a rarity among UFC champions. Jon Jones, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva — they’re all dominant almost to the point of being predictable. That’s one problem Edgar hasn’t had lately, and it’s refreshing for the fans even if it’s not the best thing for his face. Most importantly, with the Gray Maynard chapter in his life now closed, both Edgar and the UFC lightweight division can officially move on. It’s about time. Even Rocky needed fresh faces to fill the same old storylines.

Biggest Loser: Melvin Guillard
I’ll admit that I didn’t see how he might possibly lose to Joe Lauzon. From the look of it, neither did Melvin. He seemed to think this was little more than a showcase fight for him, which would explain why he attacked with reckless self-confidence right off the bat. After he jumped straight into a left hand from Lauzon all the air went out of his balloon in a hurry. It was as if you could actually see him suddenly coming around to the shocking realization that this fight wasn’t won the minute he signed the bout agreement. Arguably no one at UFC 136 had as little to gain or as much to lose as Guillard did with this fight, but I still say that it was the right move to take it. If you can’t beat Lauzon, you probably don’t deserve to be UFC champion, and this fight showed exactly why. Despite all his physical tools — and he has a bunch — Guillard still doesn’t have the mind of a champion. Not yet, anyway. If he can learn the appropriate lessons from this experience, there’s still hope. But if he doesn’t get the message this time, I fear he never will.

Best Pro Wrestling Promo: Chael Sonnen
Telling Anderson Silva that he “absolutely suck[s]”? That’s just Sonnen doing what’s expected of him at this point. Challenging him to the MMA equivalent of a loser-leaves-town match? That’s him cranking up the volume to 11. You know how you can really tell that Sonnen isn’t just borrowing a page or two out the pro wrestling playbook, but rather photocopying the whole thing and sleeping with it under his pillow? Go watch his post-fight interview with our own Ariel Helwani, where Sonnen not only claims to have the largest arm in West Linn, Ore. (a town known for the enormous arms of its citizenry, no doubt), but also finds reasons to say the name of the city he is currently in over and over again. For example, when talking about his challenge to Silva, Sonnen said, “If you accept, I will wait until Super Bowl weekend. But if you reject I will walk over there and whip your ass right here and right now in Houston, Texas.” See what I mean? All he’s missing there is a crowd to go crazy at the mere mention of their city. You have to think he’ll get that rematch with Silva, whether it’s on Super Bowl weekend or not, and then he’ll have to deal with the real-life consequences of this fantasy-land schtick. His performances in the cage thus far have bolstered his case well. It should be interesting to see whether he can stick to that script against the champ.

Most Depressing: Kenny Florian
You know how when you’re a kid they tell you that you can be anything you want to be, as long as you want it badly enough? Yeah, well that’s all crap, and the continuing saga of KenFlo proves it. Nobody wants to be a champion more or has worked harder to make it happen than Florian, yet again he comes up short. He didn’t choke. He didn’t make any obvious mistakes. He was just not quite good enough to beat Jose Aldo, just like he was not quite good enough to beat B.J. Penn. There’s no shame in it. Florian is still better than 95% of the guys in two weight classes. He’s had a great career even without the belt, and he has a future as a commentator and analyst whenever he wants it. It’s just that he’ll probably never be a UFC champion, which must be hard for a guy like him to swallow. It’s sad to think that, at least with some things and for some people, wanting it and working for it aren’t enough, and never will be. But if your consolation prize is a lucrative career and the respect of your peers — both of which Florian currently enjoys — then you’re doing pretty well. Even if it may not feel like it right this minute.

Still Predictable, But in a Fun Way: Leonard Garcia
You know what you’re getting with this guy, but it just doesn’t get old. In the rematch with Nam Phan he actually maintained his composure and discipline in the early going and resisted the urge to brawl. When that didn’t seem to be working too well, however, he had no problem flipping the switch and going into full-scale freakout mode. If only he hadn’t freaked out too much too soon, he might have managed to put Phan away. Even with the decision loss he at least reminded the UFC why he’s worth keeping around, record be damned.

Most Disappointing Trend: Demian Maia‘s Submission-less Streak
Remember when Maia was the last great hope of pure jiu-jitsu in MMA? His striking was perfunctory at best, his takedowns consisted of pulling people into his half-guard, and his finishes were all GIF-worthy displays of technical superiority. What ever happened to that guy? Now that he’s a proficient striker and a competent wrestler it’s as if all that submissions whiz stuff was in another life. He’s now gone seven straight fights without hearing the glorious sound of a dejected opponent tap, tap, tapping his way to defeat. He’s gone 4-3 during that same stretch, and against some very tough opponents. I realize his jiu-jitsu isn’t exactly sneaking up on anyone at this point, but it did seem like a greater threat back when it was the only one he had.

Biggest Matchmaking Headache: Gray Maynard
“The Bully” has had two consecutive shots at the title, yet come away empty. Now what do you do with the guy? He’s still likely to beat most of the top contenders in the lightweight division, but not likely to make much of a show out of it. Whoever you put him in against had either be a good enough wrestler to force him to do something other than suffocate them from the top, and if they’re that good you probably don’t want to waste them in a non-title or non-contender bout. Maybe the best option is to put him up against Nate Diaz next. Those two have a history, and neither is within sniffing distance of a title shot right now. Maybe they can sort things out for themselves while the rest of the division moves toward resolving the bottleneck at the very top. Just don’t expect much in the way of pre-fight interviews from those two.

Jury’s Still Out On…: Stipe Miocic
Expectations are high for this heavyweight, and he’s not doing much to lower them by showing up in a pair of Cro Cop shorts. As expected, he looked like he could do just about anything he wanted to do to Joey Beltran except put him away. That’s not necessarily a knock on Miocic. Neither Pat Barry nor Matt Mitrione could find that guy’s off switch, so there’s no shame in letting him go the distance. Still, Miocic seemed to fade in the later rounds, and didn’t have near the sense of urgency about protecting his own face that you’d like to see from fighters at this level. He could very well turn out to be the prospect of the future, but he’s clearly still got some work to do.

 

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UFC 136 Video: Demian Maia Admits He Was Nervous Before UFC 136 Fight

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HOUSTON — MMA Fighting caught up with Demian Maia after his unanimous decision win over Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. Maia talks about the pressure he was under before the fight, his improved striking and strength and how close he is to another title shot.

 

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HOUSTON — MMA Fighting caught up with Demian Maia after his unanimous decision win over Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. Maia talks about the pressure he was under before the fight, his improved striking and strength and how close he is to another title shot.

 

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UFC 136 Live Blog: Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago Updates

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Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago at UFC 136.HOUSTON — This is the UFC 136 live blog for Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC 136 on Spike TV preliminary card from the Toyota Center.

Maia (14-3) is coming off a close unanimous decision loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 131 in June. Former Sengoku champion Santiago (23-9) lost his UFC debut in May to Brian Stann via knockout.

The live blog is below.


Round 1: The two dance around the cage exchanging punches. Maia flurries, then drives low and takes Santiago down. As Maia tries to pass to a better position, Santiago gets to his feet. We’re almost midway through. Santiago throws a head kick. Maia sidesteps him and lands a hook. During an exchange, Maia takes Santiago down again. Santiago is doing a good job keeping his guard closed against Maia’s dangerous submissions, but Maia lands a few strikes, and rides out the round on top. It’s 10-9 Maia.

Round 2: Santiago takes the middle as Maia wades around the outside. Santiago just misses with a head kick. Santiago has done well in the exchanges but just as he finds his rhythm, Maia takes him down again. Santiago defending well from guard. Maia gives up on trying to pass to a better position and instead looks for strikes. It’s sort of a stalemate, and the crowd boos them for the last 10 seconds. It’s Maia again, 10-9.

Round 3: Maia tries for a single leg takedown, this time Santiago defends. Maia keeps driving for it, and Santiago spins away. He’s got to let his hands go. Maia won’t let him. He clinches again. He has Santiago’s back but can’t drag him down. The pace is a grind. Finally, Maia takes him to the ground with 2:30 left. Maia scores with an elbow. Santiago is so intent on closing his guard that he hasn’t thought of trying to get up. Maia passes to side control but does nothing with it. This crowd is now officially restless. Luckily, time is nearly out. Maia lands a series of elbows in the final seconds, and it’s his again, 10-9.

Winner: Demian Maia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago at UFC 136.HOUSTON — This is the UFC 136 live blog for Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago, a middleweight bout on tonight’s UFC 136 on Spike TV preliminary card from the Toyota Center.

Maia (14-3) is coming off a close unanimous decision loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 131 in June. Former Sengoku champion Santiago (23-9) lost his UFC debut in May to Brian Stann via knockout.

The live blog is below.


Round 1: The two dance around the cage exchanging punches. Maia flurries, then drives low and takes Santiago down. As Maia tries to pass to a better position, Santiago gets to his feet. We’re almost midway through. Santiago throws a head kick. Maia sidesteps him and lands a hook. During an exchange, Maia takes Santiago down again. Santiago is doing a good job keeping his guard closed against Maia’s dangerous submissions, but Maia lands a few strikes, and rides out the round on top. It’s 10-9 Maia.

Round 2: Santiago takes the middle as Maia wades around the outside. Santiago just misses with a head kick. Santiago has done well in the exchanges but just as he finds his rhythm, Maia takes him down again. Santiago defending well from guard. Maia gives up on trying to pass to a better position and instead looks for strikes. It’s sort of a stalemate, and the crowd boos them for the last 10 seconds. It’s Maia again, 10-9.

Round 3: Maia tries for a single leg takedown, this time Santiago defends. Maia keeps driving for it, and Santiago spins away. He’s got to let his hands go. Maia won’t let him. He clinches again. He has Santiago’s back but can’t drag him down. The pace is a grind. Finally, Maia takes him to the ground with 2:30 left. Maia scores with an elbow. Santiago is so intent on closing his guard that he hasn’t thought of trying to get up. Maia passes to side control but does nothing with it. This crowd is now officially restless. Luckily, time is nearly out. Maia lands a series of elbows in the final seconds, and it’s his again, 10-9.

Winner: Demian Maia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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UFC 138 Fight Card: Why A Win Should Put Mark Munoz In Line For A Title Shot

In what will become the UFC’s first ever non-title five round bout, Mark Munoz will face his toughest challenge yet, against the highly durable, always dangerous Chris Leben.However, for Munoz, the fight is not only a landmark in UFC history, but also …

In what will become the UFC’s first ever non-title five round bout, Mark Munoz will face his toughest challenge yet, against the highly durable, always dangerous Chris Leben.

However, for Munoz, the fight is not only a landmark in UFC history, but also an opportunity to put himself in an undeniable position as a true contender in the middleweight division.  More importantly, with a win, he’ll be one fight away from a title shot.

Having won six out of his last seven fights since his drop to middleweight, “The Filipino Wrecking Machine’s” sole loss was to the last man to challenge Anderson Silva for the belt, Yushin Okami.

Since his loss to Okami at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko, Munoz has gone 3-0, beating the likes of Aaron Simpson, C.B. Dollaway and most recently, former number one middleweight contender, Demian Maia.

Come UFC 138, Munoz’s skills will be put to the test against one of the sport’s toughest and most tenacious fighters in “The Crippler”.

To make things more difficult, the fight will go into the championship rounds, possibly making it one of the most grueling fights he could possibly have, and it won’t even be for the belt.

If anybody can survive this sort of gauntlet it would definitely be Munoz, and should he come out with his hand raised it’ll be a lot harder to deny him a title shot.

Here are four reasons why a win should put Mark Munoz in line for a title shot.

Begin Slideshow

MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Anderson Silva Makes It Look Easy

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, MiddleweightsThere’s plenty of talent in the middleweight division in the UFC. Vitor Belfort is pound-for-pound as hard a puncher as anyone in mixed martial arts. Chael Sonnen’s MMA wrestling is first-rate. Demi…

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Anderson Silva defeated Yushin Okami in the main event of UFC 134.There’s plenty of talent in the middleweight division in the UFC. Vitor Belfort is pound-for-pound as hard a puncher as anyone in mixed martial arts. Chael Sonnen‘s MMA wrestling is first-rate. Demian Maia‘s Brazilian jiu jitsu is world class.

And yet when we survey the middleweight division, it almost feels like a pointless exercise. Anderson Silva has spent the last five years proving himself to be so far ahead of the rest of the 185-pound class that the rest of the division doesn’t seem all that interesting. At UFC 134, Silva spent one round measuring Yushin Okami, then made Okami look like a rank amateur in the second round.

So as we look at the top 10 middleweights in MMA, we’re looking at a list of talented fighters, all of whom have either already lost to Silva or would surely lose to Silva. He’s head and shoulders above the rest.

Top 10 Middleweights in MMA
 (Editor’s note: The individual fighter’s ranking the last time we did middleweights are in parentheses.)

1. Anderson Silva (1): As great an offensive striker as Silva is, his stand-up defense may be even more impressive. Silva’s head movement is so good that he can stand right in front of his opponents with his chin up and his hands below his waist and know they’re not going to be able to hit him. He does things that no one else in combat sports can do.

2. Vitor Belfort (3): The combination of Belfort’s very impressive knockout of Yoshihiro Akiyama and Chael Sonnen’s continued inactivity gets Belfort a bump in the rankings. But while Belfort is saying he wants another shot at Silva, it’s hard to see why the UFC would do that. Belfort will need more than one win to get a rematch after Silva’s brutal knockout of Belfort in February.

3. Chael Sonnen (2): The one big fight left for Silva at middleweight is a rematch with Sonnen, who’s the only person who has really even challenged Silva in the UFC. If Sonnen beats Brian Stann at UFC 136, Silva-Sonnen 2 is the fight to make next.

4. Yushin Okami (4): Prior to meeting Silva, Okami had only been finished once in 31 pro fights, and that was almost eight years ago. Okami is a big, strong guy with a good chin, but Silva toyed with him. That’s how big the gap is between Silva and the rest of the Top 10 middleweights.

5. Mark Munoz (5): Munoz is the highest-ranked middleweight who hasn’t yet had a chance to face Silva, and his wrestling pedigree would make him an interesting matchup with the champion. We’re probably not going to see Munoz vs. Silva outside the Black House gym, however. Up next for Munoz is Chris Leben in the main event at UFC 138.

6. Demian Maia (6): Maia will try to rebound from his loss to Munoz with a fight against Jorge Santiago at UFC 136. Maia is only 3-3 in his last six fights and hasn’t submitted anyone since Chael Sonnen at UFC 95, and if he loses to Santiago, he’ll drop out of the Top 10.

7. Brian Stann (7): As a charismatic, articulate fighter who won a Silver Star for service in Iraq, Stann is a guy the UFC should want to put front and center on Fox: He’s just who the UFC brass should want representing them in front of a mainstream audience. If Stann beats Sonnen at UFC 136, would the UFC consider putting Stann in a middleweight title fight on Fox? Or would that fight be too lucrative on pay-per-view for the UFC to give it away for free?

8. Chris Leben (8): If Leben can beat Munoz in November, he might be able to make the case that he deserves a shot at the middleweight belt in 2012. But considering how easily Silva beat Leben the first time those two fought, a rematch probably wouldn’t be pretty for the Crippler.

9. Ronaldo Souza (9): Jacare is the Strikeforce middleweight champion, and one of the best Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners in the world, but until he moves to the UFC and fights better competition it’s hard to move him any higher in the rankings. His next fight, with Luke Rockhold on September 10, shouldn’t be much of a challenge.

10. Michael Bisping (10): Bisping will coach The Ultimate Fighter and then fight Jason “Mayhem” Miller in December. A win there would get him close to title contention, although he’d likely need one more victory in 2012 before he’d get a crack at Silva.

 

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