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[Badluck33]

Belfort out; Maia in....

By Thomas Gerbasi

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.

“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

A 32-year old native of Sao Paulo, Brazil who, like Silva, owns a black belt in jiu-jitsu, Maia (12-1) has won six of his seven UFC bouts, including five by submission, with four of those victories earning him Submission of the Night honors. He also holds a 2009 submission win over number one middleweight contender Chael Sonnen. In his most recent bout, at UFC 109 on February 6th, Maia went three rounds with talented New Jersey native Dan Miller and earned a near shutout unanimous decision. Now he will face the pound for pound king in Silva, who is unbeaten in ten UFC bouts and looking to add to his middleweight title defense record when he puts his belt on the line for the sixth time.

In the co-main event of UFC 112, lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to continue his dominant reign when he takes on Frankie Edgar. Also, two legends meet for the first time when future UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes battles groundfighting master Renzo Gracie.

Source

i knew this would happen. Sonnen is under medical suspension so he will have to wait a little more....

[Pasha K]

I personally think that Anderson is going to KO him in few minutes.

[schizerbone]

Blah.

[tig]

I thought it should be Maia. Didn't know if he could be ready so soon after this fight. But...I thought he looked great against Miller. I think it was just a really bad mistake he made against Nate...and it looks like he came out the better for it. Would love to see Maia dominate the Spider like he has everyone else but Nate, and who knows how that would have turned out if he hadn't got caught right off the bat. Miller did give Maia a pretty good fight, so Silva could cream him, but I have my fingers crossed.

[Badluck33]

Originally Posted by Pashak

I personally think that Anderson is going to KO him in few minutes.

i just hope we don't see another Silva/Leites or Silva/Cote.

It better be interesting....

[LefthookStcrook]

Im surprised. I thought they would of given it to Sonnen, the fights in abu dhabi so he could have fought regardless of medical clearance.

Its a good match up between striker vs grappler. But Anderson is far more well rounded then Maia, and im a huge fan of his. Could we actually see anderson in a ground war? fending off submissions to save his life? Or could we see another devastating KO for the spider. I'll choose the latter.

Id say Anderson's striking> Maia's BJJ
Anderson's BJJ> Maia's wrestling
Anderson's wrestling> Maia's striking

[jlruthven84]

I thought Maia was also under medical suspension. If so, this is not cool...Abu Dhabi has no medical commission to approve/disapprove this kind of thing. I want this fight to happen; I just also hope that Maia can go into this 100%.

[willpunisher]

maia deserves it more than sonnen thats for sure.
but i dont think maia is anderson level yet.
dont think anyone is at anderson's level but can't complain though at least anderson is defending his title. better than make him go up to 205, fight a can and hold up the 185 division even more.
i expect anderson to beat maia. but it will be a great change for his training.. as he was training for a stand up guy in belfort. and maia is pure bjj. lucky for us fans maia is no thales so we wont be bored and pissed off when the match is over.

[Sakara=Excitement]

Originally Posted by willpunisher

maia deserves it more than sonnen thats for sure.

How do you come up with your logic? Maia subs Chael about a year ago. Since then.....

Maia goes 1-1 with ZERO wins over top ten talent.
Chael goes 3-0 with 2 wins over top ten talent.

What sense does that make?



*BREAKING NEWS*
Nate Marquardt just commited suicide upon reading this.

[frogman]

Demain Maia (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) has agreed to replace an ailing Vitor Belfort and will now face UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (25-4 MMA, 10-0 UFC) in the main event of UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

The UFC officially announced the replacement on Friday, ending a day of speculation by MMA observers and fans alike.

UFC 112 takes place April 10 at Concert Arena at the Ferrari World theme park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is the first UFC event to be held in the Middle East, and the first event to take place outdoors.

Maia emerged from a crowded pool of UFC contenders on the strength of a UFC 109 win over Dan Miller this past Saturday. Despite a loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 102, UFC brass deemed Maia the best available option.

Chael Sonnen had laid his claim to top-contender status with a dominating victory over Marquardt at UFC 109, but injuries suffered in the bout left him unavailable for a fight with Silva.

"It's always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement," UFC president Dana White stated in today's release. "Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top-six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title.

"Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA's best striker and MMA's best grappler."

Maia is currently under medical suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission until Aug. 6 due to an left vertical upper eyelid laceration. However, Maia was not issued a minimum suspension, and he can be cleared early by an ophthalmologist or ocular-plastics doctor.

Maia wasn't immediately available for comment when contacted by MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com), but the UFC obviously feels confident the wound will receive clearance.

While Abu Dhabi does not have an athletic commission in place to regulate the event, the UFC acts as its own governing body and does observe the rules and regulations set forth by most U.S.-based commissions, including the NSAC.

Silva and Maia will fight in UFC 112's main event in a bout the organization is billing as "MMA's best striker vs. MMA's best grappler."

Belfort's return to date from the shoulder surgery that forced him out of the contest has not yet been announced. Belfort's manager, Fabiano Farah, today told MMAjunkie.com he expected his client to miss at least four months of action.

Demian Maia agrees to replace Vitor Belfort, will face Anderson Silva at UFC 112 | MMAjunkie.com

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damn okami nate hendo chael is scratching there head now

BUT DONT COUNT MAIA OUT





war maia