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02/07/09 - Maia: "I would be aggressive against Anderson"
Demian Maia is in the mix of fighters who are in contention for the UFC middleweight belt. Despite his upcoming fight versus Nate Marquardt, the jiu jitsu expert had some words for the current champion Anderson Silva.
“I see myself ready to fight for the belt. There are some things that I think about facing Anderson... He’s very good standing, in the clinch and knows how to play in all areas. I’d have to do my best being aggressive for sure, if I want I take the fight to the mat,” he said this week.
“I would go at Anderson and it would give him the chance of knocking me out or give me the opportunity to finish the fight. That’s what I expect. I’m not saying I will win, but I will fight to end the fight before the judges decision. I want to do an aggressive fight and expose myself more.”
Maia has not faced many top-ten ranked opponents and this is something that has made a fight with Marquardt necessary before he can get a title shot.
“Well, the prior bouts that I had were versus good athletes. I fought Jason McDonald – who has already caught Rich Franklin, former champion -, Nate Quarry and Ed Herman, guys who has faced tough opponents, and Fabio Negao and Gustavo Ximu when I still fought in Brazil,” Maia said when asked about this.
“Sometimes you think a fighter is good for his name but name doesn’t matter. What really matters is in the ring.”
But Maia was reportedly going to get the next shot at Anderson’s belt without facing Marquardt had the champion beaten Thales Leites in any other fashion than the one he did.
“The UFC were waiting on the result of Anderson-Thales match to see what to do with me. They told me they were planning to give me the chance in August but because of their performance the UFC decided not put Silva in a main event very soon. Then they matched me and Nate Marquardt to find out the next challenger for the belt.”
Marquardt is a specialist in wrestling and will probably try to ground and pound Maia during their encounter at UFC 102 in Portland, USA, on August 29th, and the jiu jitsu master says “maybe he tries to play standing in the beginning but after that he will go to the ground and pound where he is good”.
The Brazilian Ninja
(FO Staff Brazil)
thebrazilianninja@gmail.com
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