Demian Maia says recent lack of submissions are due to opponent stalling
Former middleweight title challenger and current welterweight contender Demian Maia stormed onto the UFC scene with five straight submission wins in his first five outings in the promotion. Since 2009, however, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion has submitted just one additional opponent.
According to the Brazilian, the reason is because his opponents have mostly chosen to play conservatively when fighting him. "People always go to the ground with me trying to just hold me. They stall and wait for the referee to stand them back up so they can start it all over," Maia told assembled media in his home country recently.
"It's hard to fight jiu-jitsu like that, the way rules are today. If we fought like the old days, with no time limit, it would be better to work. We only have five minutes to work per round so it's complicated, especially because everybody knows that my ground game is good."
Maia last fought and won in May, but is set to return to action in the main event of the March 21 UFC Fight Night in Rio, against Ryan LaFlare. A nasty bone infection kept Maia out of action until now, but he says he's all healed up.
"I'm one hundred percent now," he said.
"It was a tough moment for me. I had a terrible bone infection on my shoulder and was in bad shape, especially after my third trip to the hospital. When I recovered, I started training hard and felt great for this fight."
To prepare, Maia has done his camp in the States -- Las Vegas to be exact. The world-class grappler has enlisted the help of other top submission artists to prepare for his March main event.
"I'm doing my camp in Las Vegas," he said.
"[I'm] training with Robert Drysdale and Marcelo Garcia, and also using the UFC Gym to hit pads with my boxing coach."
Do you think Maia can get back on track in the stacked welterweight division, next month? Let us know in the comments section and on Twitter.
