Maia the GOAT?

[Conor McTouchbutt]

When it comes to BJJ in MMA? I know you have the Godfather in Gracie, and theres also been a lot of dominant BJJ practitioners over the years but I'm wondering where he stands all time? Or who should be in the discussion with him.

Currently I'd say the only guys in the discussion with him are Werdum or Jacare. BJ Penn is world class, Big Nog, Shields, Palhares.. Maybe I'm just biased, I've been a big fan of Maia's since I saw him do this to Sonnen

 

[Filthy Phil]

I think he's the best BJJ artist in the UFC today at least. A bunch of other fighters might have the same BJJ skills on paper, but none utilizes it as well as Maia in an MMA context.

 

[UkraineFreightTrain]

To me, Rickson is the GOAT jiu jitsuka in mma but Maia is closing in on him

 

[KOfinger]

Jake shields says hello

 

[Exemplar]

Thing that always makes me chuckle about "dad body" Maia is that his arms are big and strong. (Obviously because arm strength is necessary for his grappling skillset). Maia might be the only MMA fighter that if I saw him doing dumbbell curls at the gym, I'd understand why.

 

[KantoTerror]

Jake shields says hello

Maia beats him on rematch. Shields is a wrestler with good Jiu Jitsu to negate Maia...

 

[Which Doctor]

Maia is Murilo jr.

 

[cobrinski]

Maia,Conor,Fedor,Reem,Silva,Jones,and 500 others on rooster are Dana goats.MEH

 

[Garnett Silk]

When it comes to BJJ in MMA? I know you have the Godfather in Gracie, and theres also been a lot of dominant BJJ practitioners over the years but I'm wondering where he stands all time? Or who should be in the discussion with him.

Currently I'd say the only guys in the discussion with him are Werdum or Jacare. BJ Penn is world class, Big Nog, Shields, Palhares.. Maybe I'm just biased, I've been a big fan of Maia's since I saw him do this to Sonnen

If you are putting Noguiera up there how could you possibly leave out this guy.......

Spoiler

 

[basementdweller]

Maia is the best, no doubt. it's not only about submissions but the way he controls his opponents and transitions to better positions. the likelihood of a fighter go back to standing up after Maia gets top position on him is very slim. in my recollection of it, the last fighter to do so was Rory in the 3rd round of their fight, and that was against a gassed out Maia who controlled him completely on the ground in the 1st. and that was a good 7 or 8 fights ago. I saw people praising Oliveira's BJJ skills and how he is the future of BJJ in MMA because he has aggressive transitions and always goes for subs, but look at what happened in that fight. We saw Pettis doing 5, maybe more reversals from his back to a top position on guard. that's not gonna happen against Demian Maia. and I think his last 4 fights are wins against top 10 in WW, at least by the time he fought them. that's nothing short of amazing when you consider how he won those fights.

 

[machidafan99]

If it were not for that awful Anderson fight he would be in the goat discussion

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Probably the best ever when it comes to implementing jiu jitsu into mma.

 

[Repsac]

I don't really see what he does better than Jacare.

They're equals in my opinion.