Can Demian Maia do anything to improve, if so what?

[MMAProfessional]

He's had a long career and never addressed his main flaw. It's too late for him to make the necessary improvements at his age. He should just be thankful that he's gotten as far as he had being a specialist, especially in BJJ

 

[Thesnake101]

Go train at Mayweather's gym.

 

[runnpray]

He is 40 and TRT is banned.

Its too late.

One of the best non champions ever though.

By TRT, you mean STEROIDS. It's like calling global warming, climate change to not offend the stupid and the nancy's.

 

[Blayt7hh]

I mean he’s old man now TS. Sadly it’s only downhill from here

 

[Kalmah]

This guy has never once evolved in over a decade in the UFC and has now lost any sort of athleticism he may have had now that he's 40 years old.

He's done.

 

[Gilday]

He can throw kicks.

Arguably the best BJJ guy to ever be in the sport, he should have no issue with someone catching a kick and taking him down, there's no risk and only reward for him to start throwing kicks.

I want to see Demian Maia turn into fucking Cro Cop.

 

[Fahcough]

Take the Fallon Fox route since that's what BJJ is for. Out muscled at 185 so tried to drop and fight smaller guys, still falls to ground with no idea what to do when he can't cling on and struggle to get a sub.

P4P #1 in overrated ability

 

[JN9000]

Nope. I have always been a big Maia fan, but he needs to retire.

 

[Nobru]

juice to the bones and go bellator. would love to see him with some power armbars.

 

[Roop Holstry]

He can throw kicks.

Arguably the best BJJ guy to ever be in the sport, he should have no issue with someone catching a kick and taking him down, there's no risk and only reward for him to start throwing kicks.

I want to see Demian Maia turn into fucking Cro Cop.

I get the feeling that he doesn’t like throwing kicks as much anymore

 

[Dogo1]

Invent a time machine or find the fountain of youth.

He needs the time machine, fountain of youth won't magically enable him to take down wrestlers.

 

[Shaddows]

After watching him with USMAN I gave up on him. He is still my favorite fighter, an I bet he took the fight in short notice because he wanted to show how much he has improved his wrestling. It turns out it wasnt that much. The same way I do not see any mma fighter beating him in bjj even if they get a black belt, I dont see Maia taking down people that have been training wrestling all their life. The best "improvement" I saw when fighting USMAN was when he had him in a abdominal strecht which the ref decided to screw up by separating them.

Unfortunately, I see to major flaws in Maia.
1) cardio. he uses too much energy taking people down. And he is usually spent by round 2. That makes TD more difficult and due to his porr standup, he can't do anything but fail TD attempts until the end of the fight.
2) Standup. He improved it a lot, but he does not trust it and does nto use it at all. While understandable since his BJJ is other-worldly, but when he can't take someone down, he needs to switch tactics.... and he does not.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Prime has passed... just don't fight a wrestler. Still has some slick BJJ. Just needed more against Woodley and other top-tier.

 

[The_Renaissance]

He's 400yr olds, no chance.
The thing with Maia, is by BJJ standards, he actually has good takedowns/wrestling. The problem is, the top end of the division is dominated by pure wrestlers and his wrestling isn't good enough to impose on them. The only thing he could've learned really, is striking to level the game a bit but he seems proper pillow-fisted - he never seems to hit hard, meaning it'd be a moot point anyway. He'd still be restricted to a 15-25min K1 match against guys who generally hit harder than him and are more explosive - he's got no athleticism really has he.

He's like a relic of a bygone era, albeit a very good one. Around UFC 50 He'd be a top-drawer contender or champion, but in 2017/18 you need more than he has in his locker.

 

[daniel san]

He’s too old to start learning new things and mastering them. I think the Maia of today beats any older version of Maia though simply because he’s more experienced and his striking has indeed improved. The biggest hole right now I’d say is his cardio. He beat up Colby in round 1 but gassed and lost the fight. If I was him that would be my main concern

 

[Fight Professor]

Use his BJJ offensively like Palhares instead of being a backpack.

 

[20falarVerdades]

Train with Ryan Hall