Maia to face Anderson Silva!!!!!

Demian Maia is to take Belforts place against Anderson Silva....Looks official below is from UFC.com

Belfort injured; Maia steps up to face Silva at UFC 112


Following a hard-fought three round win over Dan Miller at UFC 109 that showed him to be more than just a submission expert, Demian Maia will jump right back into training camp for the biggest fight of his career – an April 10th meeting with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 112 at Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Maia replaces countryman Vitor Belfort, who underwent emergency surgery on his left shoulder earlier this week to fix a chronic injury that got worse in his training camp for Silva

How can Maia be ready in time but Sonnen can??? There is only gonna be outcome to this fight!!!!

Maia has only 1 career loss, he beat Sonnen badly, I think Maia is a far shout. He is coming off a win and he is ready to go were Sonnen isnt because Sonnen got his face messed up badly in the Marquardt fight, he wouldnt be ready to go even if he wanted to.

It's being billed as the best striker in MMA against the best grappler in MMA!!!

I reckon Silva will have to much for Maia, does anyone think Maia will be able to take Silva down??

I think Maia has the best chance of anyone at 185 of beating Silva. Travis Lutter came closest to beating Silva because of his BJJ. Maia's BJJ is on a level Lutter, regardless of goldberg Michael Jordan comparison's. If Maia can get this fight to the ground then Silva could be in big trouble.

Nice save by Joe Silva and the UFC, Maia is a credible opponent, and is i assume is very big in Abu Dhabi with ADCC etc.....

They need to get an opthamologist to clear him? Its in Abu Dhabi so they probably wont even have too.

I'm happy with that... probably more happy than a Sonnen bout! should be an interesting one!!

although Maia has obviously been working on his stand up i'm goig to rol out the cliche that all fights start on the feet. if he can't get anderson to the ground he's got nothing else to trouble him.

i have a horrible feeling this is going to be another farce like the thles leites fight. hope not but i'm worried

Maia would not do what Thales did, instead of lying on his back hoping Anderson jumps on top, Maia will try to pull guard, try trips, Sweeps, takedowns etc....

I just hope Maia doesnt fall into the trap of getting too comfortable on the stand up early on, we know Anderson likes too start slow, before unleashing his striking.


I'm looking forward to this, Maia and Anderson my 2 favourite MW's.

Red is spot on. Maia will be much more agressive in trying to get it to the ground.

My biggest worry is whether or not Maia will be ready to go at full tilt with no down time between fights.

Not a bad replacement, his BJJ will cause any opponent problems. If I were Maia I would focus on takedowns during my training. Work on standup, work on BJJ but focus on takedowns-In any form. Maia doesn't really have good wrestling but he is a blackbelt in Judo so he should try throws and sweeps. On the ground he has a pretty big advantage. Maia is a lot better than Leities, who only has BJJ and thats not even of a high level. It probably wasn't even that much better than SIlva's, and he had no wrestling or other form of grappling.

And Sonnen is a good wrestler....

Maia embarrassed Sonnen. Personally I thought Sonnen and Maia should have been fighting again with the winner getting the winner of Silva-Belfort.

Maia-Marquadt-Sonnen might be the best example of why MMA maths doesn't work. Maia beat Sonnen with ease. Nate knocked Maia out within 20 seconds. Sonnen beat Nate in a pretty one sided fight.

great replacement this is going to be very interesting i hope Maia pulls it off

to be fair though, Maia vs Sonnen, and Sonnen vs Nate were dominating one sided victories.

Nate just got a one punch KO in 20 seconds, if they had a rematch it is likely to have another outcome (if perhaps not another victor)whereas the same could not be said for the other 2 fights.

I hope Maia will submit Anderson, but i fully expect Anderson to win comfortably.

Anderson's striking is far too good for Maia, if he can get it to ground he might have a chance.

Thats assuming he doesn't get knocked out in the first minute

“I knew about it last night. I still can’t believe it. My manager called me and they asked if I wanted to fight for the belt. I said ‘of course, you don’t even have to ask it.’”

“I’ll have time to prepare an strategy. I’m coming from a heavy training and I’m in a fight rhythm. I’ll let my body rest this week and I’ll start the training next week. I still don’t know where I’ll train, but I’ll go train Boxing with (Luis Carlos) Dorea for sure. My physical preparation wlll be with (Rafael) Alejarra.”

“If I say to you that I’m gonna exchange with him I’ll be lying. It’s the same thing if I say he’ll go to the ground with me. But I’ll go to this fight ready for everything. It’s a title fight and the title always was my dream. I imagined having this title shot a year ago, but I had two more fights and God, for one reason, gave it to me now.”

Soares



“I think it's a very interesting matchup. I think it's MMA's best striker against MMA's best grappler. I think it kind of brings back the old-school UFC of stand-up fighter vs. grappler. Anderson was very motivated to fight Vitor. He was taking that camp very seriously, and now he's going to be taking the Demian Maia camp very seriously. I think Demian is a professional. He's a great person. He's a very humble guy, and he's a very talented guy. This is the classic, old-school MMA fight where it's the world's best grappler against the world's best striker. It's got that old-school feel.”

“I think it's a shame that Chael wasn't able to take the fight because I know with all that crap he was talking about Anderson this and Anderson that it would be interesting for him to put all those things he had to say into the octagon. But then again, you've got Demian Maia here who is a guy who submitted Chael stepping up here and taking the fight on less-than-two-months notice. We appreciate Demian stepping up and taking the fight on such short notice, and now you've got two of the best at what they do stepping into the octagon.”

“It's a bummer to have a loss two fights ago. But a situation like that, that can happen to anybody. That just goes to show you that if anybody gets hit in the chin with a four-ounce glove, you can go down. And it wasn't like he got beat up for three rounds. He literally got caught, and anybody can get caught. I think it was unfortunate, but I don't think it takes away from Demian Maia as a fighter.”

“Demian obviously has improved his stand-up game quite a bit. I'm not going to say he's an A-plus striker now, but you definitely can see that his striking game has improved. It might not be in his best interest to stand with Anderson, but I think he can stand with Anderson a lot better than he was able to six months ago. He seemed like he knew how to move around the octagon much better, and he looked like he felt a lot more comfortable using his hands. He wasn't just desperate to take his opponent down. I think that's going to be important. I think that's going to present some challenges.”

“I'm not saying Maia's striking is going to be as good as Anderson. Right now, in this day and age, I think Anderson is the best stand-up fighter in the world. I think it's going to be difficult for anyone to say, 'I'm going to stand with Anderson.' But I think that the way Demian's striking has been improving is going to make the fight more interesting because it's not like we're expecting him to just go in and shoot. That's what everyone is thinking, but I don't think he's going to do that. I don't think the bell is going to ring and Maia is just going to jump in and shoot. He's going to have to exchange a little bit, and that's going to be interesting.”

Maia was originally suspended wasn't he? For a couple of months i though. How can he get clearance?

He is suspended till august, but he can fight if he gets cleared by an opthamologist. The cut that he had to his eye lid did not seem too bad. There is nothing they can do to stop him training though, unless the send someone to follow him around.

Ah i get ya. Is it an indication that Sonnen wasn't willing to fight? He had a worse cut but an easier place to heal and was given only a month. Surely he could have kept training etc.

Mark Coleman is suspended until March 9 with not contact until Feb. 28.

– Nate Marquardt is suspended until March 9 with no contact until Feb. 28.

– Chael Sonnen is suspended until March 9 due to lacerations on his forehead and nasal bridge.

– Mike Swick is suspended until March 24 with no contact until March 9 at a minimum. He must have his left elbow x-rayed and cleared by an orthopedic doctor or he is suspended until Aug. 6.

– Demian Maia is suspended until Aug. 6 unless he has his left vertical upper eyelid laceration cleared by an ophthalmologist or an ocular-plastics doctor.

– Dan Miller is suspended until March 9 with no contact until Feb. 28.

– Frank Trigg is suspended until March 24 with no contact until March 9.

– Mac Danzig is suspended until Aug. 6 unless he gets orthopedic clearance on a possible left knee sprain.

– Justin Buchholz is suspended until March 9 with no contact until Feb. 28.

– Melvin Guillard has to have an ophthalmologic exam in one or two months, but it must be completed by March 26 and he must take a copy of his January 2010 examination with him.

–Rolles Gracie is suspended until March 9 with no contact until Feb. 28.

So, what happens if in a month a doctor turns around and doesn't clear Maia?

"Rolles Gracie is suspended until March 9 with no contact until Feb. 28."

Is that so he can have a nap?

I don't see why Sonnen can't have the shot if he is cleared faster than Maia.

I know its a title shot but by maia taking this fight, is he getting the UFC out of a hole at his own expense? I can't believe he will be 100% come fight day, and anyone would need to be 110% to beat anderson (with a little luck chucked in). If he loses this fight badly wont he drop right down the rankings as opposed to being second in line behind sonnen.

I'm a very cynical person.

With Fedor fighting later that month and expecting to beat Werdum easily, Dana White needs a win from his P4P #1 to maintain his claim to having the best in the world. Belfort is a tough fight and one which could go either way. Silva could quite possibly lose which doesn't help Dana Whites claims.

I think they are banking on the fact Silva will pick Maia apart on his feet before it even has a chance of going to the ground and getting another knock out, especially in light of his recent fight against Nate. They can also market it as best striker against best grappler, again increasing in their eyes Anderson Silvas No1 P4P ranking. But you never know - flying scissor heel hook anyone?

Now that is quite probably all bullshit but I have become a wee bit wary of the UFC. Money has become too much of a focus now for the UFC IMO.