Demian Maia

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1 Profile
2 Early MMA Career and ADCC
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Demian Maia (born November 6, 1977) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and 2007 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion.

He stands 6 ft. 0 in. (183 cm) tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.). He currently fights as a middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early MMA Career and ADCC

Demian Maia entered the professional mixed martial arts circuit on December 3, 2005 as a highly decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu artist. He made his debut against Lukas Chlewicki at The Cage Vol.4 - Redemption card. He defeated Chlewicki via arm bar at 4.22 of round 1.

Ten months later, Maia participated in an 8-man one night tournament for the Super Challenge organization. In the first round of the tournmanet, Maia defeated Vitelmo Kubis Bandeira via rear naked choke in the first round. In the semis he faced Gustavo Machado whom he defeated by unanimous decision. Maia moved onto the final where he faced Fabio Negao. Maia latched onto a guillotine choke in the first round to take the tournament.

In 2007, Maia turned his focus to the Abu Dhabi Combat Club's Submission World Wrestling Championships. Maia participated in the Under 88kg division where he defeated Yushin Okami, Rafael Lovato and Tarsis Humphries on route to the final. In the final, Maia submitted Flavio Almeida via an arm bar submission to be declared ADCC Under 87kg Submission World Wrestling Champion.

UFC Career

A victory over Ryan Stout in 2007 via TKO due to injury and his grappling pedigree earned Maia a call up to the premiere mixed martial arts organization, the UFC.

Maia made his debut at UFC 77 against the well rounded, Ryan Jensen. Maia earned submission of the night honors after securing a takedown and Jensen's back in the first round. From there he locked up one of Jensen's arms with his leg and easily slipped in the rear naked choke.

Submission of the night honors came knocking once again at UFC 83, in April of 2008. Maia caught TUF 3 veteran, Ed Herman in a triangle choke before securing mount with the triangle still attached. Herman preferred to black out than tap out and the fight was stopped once the referee became aware that Herman was out.

At UFC 87 Maia faced off against Jason MacDonald. In a ground war, Maia's superior grappling became evident as he secured dominant position after dominant position. A resilient MacDonald fought to the bitter end but was eventually overwhelmed in the third round as Maia forced in a rear naked choke to take the victory and his third successive submission of the night.

On the biggest PPV of the year, UFC 91, Maia faced TUF 1 veteran, Nate Quarry on the main card. Quarry's wrestling and superior striking were thought by many enough to give Maia problems. Maia countered all that by pulling half guard and then sweeping Quarry early in round 1. From there he secured the back and after a brief struggle sunk in the rear naked choke which forced the tap.