When Demian Maia took to the Octagon to face Gunnar Nelson at UFC 194, Irish fans would have been hopeful that their adopted son could kick off the night in a positive manner for SBG. What followed was one hell of a dominant performance from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master.
Even those of us who may prefer to see a good old fashioned stand-up war couldn't help but be transfixed by the manner in which Maia took the fight to the ground and made Nelson look an amateur in some of the more technical aspects of grappling. Nelson is anything but an amateur but Maia's performance was just that dominant.
Maia has a 7-2 welterweight record in the UFC and even still, he's sitting all the way down in 6th in the official rankings having yet to get a title shot. He's all set to face Matt Brown at UFC 198 in May but by that point he could have potentially been pushed further down the title reckoning should Conor McGregor defeat Rafael dos Anjos on March 5th and then come through on the threat (for want of a better word) to make the unlikely jump to welterweight to face Robbie Lawler for the title at UFC 200.
As you may have imagined, Maia is not overly enthused at that prospect. Speaking on this week's MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the Brazilian fighter was asked about the prospect of being pushed out to give McGregor what he wants, or supposedly wants, and he was understandably less than delighted at the prospect.
Sad, you know, because that’s crazy. We are athletes, and we work very hard in our way to the title. I understand that this fight would make a lot of money, but as an athlete, I don’t agree with that. I can’t disagree more.
If you think okay, you gotta work, do a couple fights at least to prove that you can fight because it’s a different division. But, at the end of the day, I don’t think he will win against Rafael.
However, that's not to say that the 38 year old is dismissive of McGregor's talents, he just feels that the jump in weight is going to be a bigger challenge than many are expecting.
It’s too much weight difference. I think it’s a different body type. Rafael is very tough, he proved that in his last fights. I’m sure (Conor) has his chance, of course. He proved that against Aldo.
Most people that understand the sport didn’t think he was going to win, and he did in a fashion way. It was crazy. I was shocked. I went to the corridor to watch the fight, just relax, and when the things happened I was shocked.
To be quite honest, we're still expecting this welterweight talk to come to nothing but if he does manage to overcome Dos Anjos in a little over two weeks time then we're certainly not going to complain if he does decide that welterweight is where his immediate future lies.
