Issue 045
January 2009
With three wins in the UFC Octagon in less than twelve months (all of them by submission, and all of them Submission of the Night), middleweight Demian Maia turned plenty of heads for a relatively unknown fighter.
Seemingly coming from nowhere, the Brazilian entered the UFC with a level of jiu-jitsu that left fans gobsmacked – when Joe Rogan talks about “high level jiu-jitsu”, he means guys like Maia. “I love MMA,” says Maia. “But you know I want to represent jiu-jitsu. I want to be the jiu-jitsu guy.”
With impeccable credentials in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and undefeated in MMA, Maia is a state, national and world champion, having trained in the art since he was a teenager. “I had a good career in jiu-jitsu. Since I was a kid I thought about a career in MMA, I watched my first MMA fight when I was about 12 or 13 years old in Brazil.”
“I was doing well in my jiu-jitsu career, but I always had the desire to do MMA, or vale tudo. I met this guy who was my student, he became my manager. He started to try to put me in the MMA world and helped me get into the UFC.”
Takling his first fight in 2001, Maia entered an old-fashioned no-holds-barred competition in Venezuela. “They don’t show it on Sherdog – I fought against a wrestler, there was no weight limit – he was 125 or 130kg. We wore small gloves but it was almost no rules. I won quite fast.”
Making his debut in the UFC in October 2007, Maia is stunned to be awarded Breakthrough Fighter of the Year. “I’m very, very happy the readers voted me. I was surprised the people liked me that much. The one thing they can be sure of is I will try to keep having exciting fights and submit my opponents. I’ll do the best I can and do my best in the Octagon. I’m very happy the fans recognised me.”
Making waves with his uber-efficient grappling and highly technical style, Maia is passionate about the art he represents. “I don’t want to put aside jiu-jitsu; I think that’s a tactical mistake. A lot of jiu-jitsu fighters think they’re really good at jiu-jitsu and think they don’t need to train it anymore, they just train stand-up. For me it’s very important to train in jiu-jitsu.”
MMA was no easy test for the 31-year-old though, who entered an eight-man tournament in Brazil with only two fights to his name. “I was totally the underdog in that fight - many, many, many tough guys. I was like, ‘Ah let’s just go and fight, see what happens.’ Normally I prefer to not to think about it, I don’t think if I’m gonna win or if I’m gonna lose, I keep my mind clear. I just went there to fight, and it was a perfect night. I think, thanks to that, I appeared to the MMA world.”
The amazing thing is that Maia, with nine wins under his belt, says that he is only now training like a true UFC fighter. “I think when I first fought in the UFC I was serious, but my last fight I was much more professional. I always take it seriously, but I was not like a professional athlete. A professional doesn’t stay in class every day until late. You should train properly. Now I’m doing that and I have a lot to develop still.”
With a spectacular year behind him, Maia is looking forward to a bright 2009. “I only ever wanted to be the best fighter in the world. Besides that I just try to train hard, win my fights and go to my target. I don’t think too much about when the title is going to be, who they want me to fight. I try to stay relaxed, and know the title will come one day.”
