Our host, Steve Cofield of Cagewriter talks UFC 131 BETTING ODDS with our expert MMA analysts: Larry Pepe of ProMMARadio and Damon Martin of MMAWeekly. Find out your best bets in the top 3 main.
Our host, Steve Cofield of Cagewriter talks UFC 131 BETTING ODDS with our expert MMA analysts: Larry Pepe of ProMMARadio and Damon Martin of MMAWeekly. Find out your best bets in the top 3 main card bouts.
Demian Maia is headed into UFC 131 with his sights solely focused on the hard hitting wrestler, Mark Munoz. A victory that could put Maia back into a position atop the middleweight contenders for Silva’s title.
Maia is regarded as one of if not the bes…
Demian Maia is headed into UFC 131 with his sights solely focused on the hard hitting wrestler, Mark Munoz. A victory that could put Maia back into a position atop the middleweight contenders for Silva’s title.
Maia is regarded as one of if not the best Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner on the UFC roster. That has also been Maia’s largest problem as that is all that he was known for until he was forced to refocus upon his skills after his one-sided loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 112.
During his fight with Silva, it became evident that Maia was completely reliant on getting the fight to the ground where he could implement his BJJ techniques. The problem was though, that Maia was never close to getting Silva to the mat as the middleweight champion dominated Maia during the first three rounds.
The fight then turned into one of the oddest fights ever witnessed when Silva basically stopped fighting and started running for unknown reasons to this day, as Maia attempted to push forward.
Since that loss, fans have started to see a whole different Demian Maia. Maia has refocused his training as he tries to evolve as a complete mixed martial artist. He has worked very hard on his stand-up game, training diligently while working boxing coach Luis Dorea. Dorea, a well-respected boxing instructor has trained the art of boxing to many MMA fighters that include Junior Dos Santos, Rodrigo Nogueira and Rogerio Nogueira.
In case anyone didn’t see Maia’s last fight where Maia displayed his stand-up skills against the seven inch reach advantage of the Muay thai fighter, Kendall Grove. Maia dominated all three rounds on his way to earning the unanimous decision victory which displayed the overall game Maia was working on developing.
Maia has also been working on improving his wrestling ability at Chicago based Overtime Academy where he learns from two-time NCAA champion Jake Herbert and also learning from Josuel Distak in both wrestling and striking. Even as Mark Munoz has studied film on Maia, he has commented on how Maia looks more like a wrestler on top of his opponent than a BJJ fighter that lacks top control.
The fight between Munoz and Maia will indeed be an important bout for both fighters. Maia will be looking to find out how much his ability as a striker and wrestler have come as he tries to take-down and strike with the former NCAA champion. Munoz will be getting his opportunity to defeat a top-five middleweight while possibly getting to prove how good his ground game is, as he looks to become a real contender at middleweight.
As for the middleweight division, Demian Maia is looking to make his claim for the No. 2 position behind Anderson Silva. Maia may be the most quiet contender as he is often overlooked with the other contenders inside the division such as Chael Sonnen, Jason Mayhem Miller and Michael Bisping. All of which may not have the skills that Maia possess.
A win over Munoz will increase Maia’s win/loss record to 15-2, with a 9-2 UFC record and a three-fight win streak. Maia has defeated the currently suspended Chael Sonnen by first round submission while his two losses came to middleweight champion Anderson Silva and the recently downsized welterweight Nate Marquardt.
At 33 years of age for both Maia and Munoz, this matchup is a must-win for both combatants. For Maia though, a dominant win can place him in a position for a chance to redeem himself against Anderson SIlva.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting spoke to middleweight Mark Munoz on Wednesday about his UFC 131 fight against Demian Maia, where he would like the fight to play out, his development as a striker, the success of his Reing Training Center gym, his place in the middleweight division and much more.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting spoke to middleweight Mark Munoz on Wednesday about his UFC 131 fight against Demian Maia, where he would like the fight to play out, his development as a striker, the success of his Reing Training Center gym, his place in the middleweight division and much more.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting spoke to Demian Maia at Wednesday’s UFC 131 media workout about Saturday night’s fight against Mark Munoz, where he thinks the fight will play out, his development as a striker, fighting after the birth of his first child, his improvement as a fighter since his UFC 112 fight against Anderson Silva and more.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — MMA Fighting spoke to Demian Maia at Wednesday’s UFC 131 media workout about Saturday night’s fight against Mark Munoz, where he thinks the fight will play out, his development as a striker, fighting after the birth of his first child, his improvement as a fighter since his UFC 112 fight against Anderson Silva and more.
UFC 131 is just around the corner, and the fight card is shaping up into an exciting one.The main event featuring Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin, as well as the featherweight debut of Kenny Florian facing Diego Nunes, will headline the pay-per-view…
UFC 131 is just around the corner, and the fight card is shaping up into an exciting one.
The main event featuring Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin, as well as the featherweight debut of Kenny Florian facing Diego Nunes, will headline the pay-per-view, but there are other great fights on the card as well.
With under a week remaining before the fights take place, let’s take a look at each bout in this full breakdown of the UFC 131 fight card.
For years, Demian Maia (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) has been a mainstay at the top of the UFC middleweight division. After arriving in the promotion, Maia went 6-1, defeating the likes of Ed Herman, Jason MacDonald, and Chael Sonnen before he was awarded …
For years, Demian Maia (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) has been a mainstay at the top of the UFC middleweight division.
After arriving in the promotion, Maia went 6-1, defeating the likes of Ed Herman, Jason MacDonald, and Chael Sonnen before he was awarded a shot at reigning Anderson Silva.
His battle against Silva at UFC 112 in Abu Dabi will go down as one of the most lack-luster title bouts in UFC history. A few months after the fight, Maia went on HDNet’s Inside MMA to tell the fans his side of the story.
Maia has moved on to go undefeated in his two bouts since the fight against Silva, defeating Mario Miranda and Kendall Grove by decision.
This Saturday, Maia will be looking to run his current winning streak up to three when he takes on the up-and-coming prospect Mark Munoz (10-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC)
“I have a lot of respect for Mark Munoz,” Maia told Bleacherreport.com/mma in an exclusive interview. “I think he is a great fighter and a very nice guy.”
When you compete at the top of the middleweight division, Maia recognizes that there is no room for error.
“At this level, all fights are tough, and we always have to watch out for a lot of stuff, as everyone is training to be a well-rounded fighter.”
When asked about what he believes Munoz’ greatest strengths are, Maia told Bleacher Report “Obviously he has great wrestling. He also hits very hard, and is improving his stand-up”
Every fighter realizes that in order to keep at the top of your respective division, you have to consistently work on improving your skill set. When it comes to his training leading in to his bout this Saturday, Maia has left no stone unturned.
“I have been training hard in all areas, like I always do, as I want to be the UFC champion one day. So I have to keep improving.” Maia explained. “As always, I trained a lot of jiu-jitsu, a lot of boxing, and also muay thai and wrestling.”
When asked what he believed would be the one aspect of his game Munoz should worry about the most, Maia replied “Everybody knows that I come from a jiu-jitsu background.”
“Ground games is my specialty, however I’m training a lot so I can be efficient in all areas of the game, as I’m sure Mark is doing the same.”
As he stated earlier in our conversation, Maia hopes to capture the UFC middleweight title one day. While the desire will surely be in the back of his mind, Maia will be focusing on nothing but Mark Munoz at UFC 131.
“Right now, I don’t think about this.” Maia said about where he believed a win against Munoz would put him as far as the middleweight title picture is concerned.
“All I think is about fighting Mark Munoz on June 11. Obviously we are always trying to move up, and whoever wins this fight will take a step forward.
“But when or where we will be, and what will happen next is something I’ll think about after the fight along with my team.”
With the recent announcement of the George St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz bout, it appears that “business as usual” will not last for long as far as Strikeforce fighters not fighting in the UFC and vice-versa. Should some of the best from Strikeforce’s middleweight division start competing in the UFC, Maia believes it will be a good thing for everyone.
“I think competition is always getting tougher. For the fans, [it] will be very good to have those guys mixing in the division in the UFC, as we will have more great fights to watch.
“Regardless there will always be new and tough guys coming in and I certainly think guys like Jacare [Souza] can cause an impact and become contenders as well.
When Maia isn’t either training to beat someone up or beating someone up, he is just an average person like the rest of us.
When asked about his life away from fighting scene, Maia said “I like to stay with my family, spend time with my wife and take care of my baby daughter, play with my dogs, watch some movies … I mean, normal stuff [laughs].”
Maia, who will turn 34 in November, has a plan already in place when his fighting days are over. However, he has no plans on stopping anytime soon.
“I have the goal of becoming a UFC champion one day, and be the best fighter I can be. I don’t know how long I’ll be fighting, but I take good care of myself and I want to reach my goal, with some good years ahead.
“When I retire from fighting, I want to keep working with jiu-jitsu and maybe I see myself working for a big MMA promotion like the UFC. Why not?
“It’s something I can see myself doing, but I’m right now 100 percent focused on being a pro fighter, and becoming the best one I can be.”
On a parting note, Maia wanted to send a shout-out to all of his fans.
“I would like to thank all the fans for the support. I’ll be doing my best again in the Octagon on June 11 in Vancouver at UFC 131, and I hope they will have a great time.
“I’m opening some new affilitated Brazilian jiu-jitsu schools in Canada and in the USA. You can following me on Twitter @demianmaia, and check out my website at www.demianmaia.com to check all the news and more.
