Maia: "Am I the best fighter in WW division? No. Am I the toughest? No".

[Thesnake101]

Mmm...

That still might be Jake Shields.

 

[aRtFuL]

Mmm...

That still might be Jake Shields.

I don't think technical wise Jake is better. He is just much stronger than Maia, and given the fact that Jake is up there in skill level, gave Jake the advantage in that fight.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Maia deserves a big name. The only big names he has had at WW so far were Rory and Fitch and he lost to both. He also lost to Munoz(although that was at MW i think). Maybe he should stay away from wrestlers. Glad with the Brown matchup.

Yeah is not like he hasn't strangled Chael and story, and tooled Fitch.

Sure he needs to stay away from wrestlers..

 

[Schoolboy Q]

One is a BJJ god, the other one a wrestler with KO power...
They are obviously not the same to anyone with any basic MMA knowledge.

I'm not saying they fight the same, I'm saying they both will never be champion.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Shields made it look that way in their fight, but I think that Maia is better at taking the fight to the ground than Shields. Forgot all about Jake the Snake.

No he didn't, under grappling rules Maia would've won, jake is an awesome grappler but his horrible kickboxing is what gave him the last round, it was a very close fight and demian had the better positions bin the fight, jake never came close to mount any significant offense

 

[Deleted member 196663]

Love Maia's career progression. In many ways he was like Ronda Rousey at one point. A great submission artist that learned and fell in love with striking and to a degree neglected what got him there. But Maia turned things around by expanding his take down game. I really think that's what Rousey needs to do as well.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

He is the best grappler though.

I disagree

Lombard would ragdoll him


askren , shields and Paul harris say Hi too

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Roger is in Gi, I don't believe he has the edge on Maia in no gi though.

Straight up grappling? He does by miles... Mma grappling? Maia has transitioned way bettrwr

 

[BJJ_Rage]

I disagree

Lombard would ragdoll him


askren , shields and Paul harris say Hi too

That will be a very tough fight but Lombards is not going tongue ground with demian, he's going to keep it standing and throw bombs

 

[Odoylerules4lyf]

I disagree

Lombard would ragdoll him


askren , shields and Paul harris say Hi too

Lombard might be able to hit some throws on him but there's no way he would simply ragdoll him on the ground. Askren has never gone up against anybody even close to Maia's level of grappling, but he could probably keep the fight on the feet if he wanted and I don't think Palhares would be able to outgrapple him either. Shields is a very good grappler as well but I think Maia is better at forcing a grappling match.

 

[Werdun]

Love Maia's career progression. In many ways he was like Ronda Rousey at one point. A great submission artist that learned and fell in love with striking and to a degree neglected what got him there. But Maia turned things around by expanding his take down game. I really think that's what Rousey needs to do as well.

I think the move to 170 was the thing that helped him with the takedowns. Now he has strength advantage over or atleast same level as they are

 

[fortheo]

Maia deserves a big name. The only big names he has had at WW so far were Rory and Fitch and he lost to both. He also lost to Munoz(although that was at MW i think). Maybe he should stay away from wrestlers. Glad with the Brown matchup.

wrestlers like Sonnen, fitch, story, Laflare? Why should he stay away from wrestlers again?

By the way, he didn't lose to fitch. HE also beat shields imo.

 

[Shaddows]

I'm not saying they fight the same, I'm saying they both will never be champion.

While with a pain in my heart I agree in principle, I have to point out that the connection you tried to make didn't work though.

Bader is not liked, and have virtually no fans. Hence why Zuffa has absolutely no interest in him being a champion.

But Maia, as you can notice, is well liked by the fans.
he is also not boring at all.
There's a big difference in their game.

Maia is like watching a master in chess. Some "just-bleed" fans do not like.
But most MMA fans can appreciate the greatness in him.

And while I do think he would be a huge underdog against Lawler, you can NEVER count him out.
If he took anyone down, he becomes the absolute favorite to win.
Bar NONE!

 

[MMA-woooooh!!!!]

gotta love a guy like maia, what an attitude to have, not the best at everything but still trying to go for the belt anyway and believing he can win, i'd say few people can have that attitude and stay on top

 

[Odoylerules4lyf]

To be fair, Palhares raked the fuck out of Shield's eyes.

 

[TheShogunner]

Not a huge Maia fan but no one can deny that he's a class act

 

[Epicness]

i like maia,s attitude but he gets KO'd by Lawler, Condit, Hendricks, Woodley and Lombard IMO

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

He is the best grappler though.

No, that would be Gunnar. Just wait until they fight. You'll see.

 

[JayElectra]

Maia always has been likable. He's also had some fairly impressive longevity in the sport, all things considered.

 

[VinceArch]

I don't know how people can dislike this guy.