In a relaxed atmosphere and with joy of one more year filled with great accomplishments, Demian Maia gathered his friends, instructors and students of his Sao Paulo Academy for a celebration of all the good things that happened in 2010, and also thinking about the accomplishments that will rock 2011, especially the return of the UFC in Brazil, making the country even more recognized in the Mix Martial Arts community, with its main asset: the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The event was held at the restaurant Jeca Jones, and the photos were taken by our great photographer and Bjj black belt Valdir Reis .

Photos: Valdir Reiswww.valdirreisfotografo.com.br

Posted by MMA NEWS on December 6, 2010 at 7:29am
View MMA NEWS’s blog

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in Tatame

After an undeniable victory over the giant Kendall Grove, the black belt Demian Maia is among the top names of the middleweight division of UFC. On an interview given to TATAME, Demian commented his difficulty of confronting a guy of 66, talked about his evolution on the exchange, talked about his season, told us his plans for 2011 and commented the statement that Anderson Silva has given about him on Sensei SporTV. Check there and other subjects on the below interview.

What did you think of your presentation against the giant Kendall Grove?

I’ve watched the fight later and I liked what I’ve saw, it was a very busy fight, I hit him with good jabs and I moved a lot on the ground, I couldn’t finish him, but I came close some times, I fit good coups and I showed I’m more mature inside the octagon.

You did a nice job on the first round and on the third you slowed it down a little. Did you administrated it because you knew you were better on the first rounds or were you tired?

I slowed it down because I knew I was winning the fight, but I believe that I clearly won the third round too, I attacked a lot, he came forwards but he couldn’t connect efficient coups, maybe one, and I’ve hit him like four times, it was a round where I explored my Boxing skills. When there were 40 seconds left, I grabbed his legs and hold him there because it didn’t make any sense to exchange with him and risk it all like a lottery, it would be a good thing for him and I would end up losing. Nowadays we have to stick to our game plan because it doesn’t work to just keep trying to punch the guy and finish being knocked out.

What was the most difficult part of confronting a guy of that height?

The most difficult thing is that we don’t have many people of that height to train with, but I was lucky to have Ednaldo Lula, a fighter of Salvador who is taller than him, besides I have trained Jiu-Jitsu with Antonio Peinado, who’s not as tall as Kendall. The difference was that Kendall trained with many guys of my size, while I only had one guys of his size to train with.

Even facing a fighter with a greater reach than you, you showed that you evolved a lot on Boxing. How is this stand-up work been doing?

I work with my masters and I like the guy a lot, professor Dórea, that you all know, André Lopes in Sao Paulo, who’s an excellent guy, a great person. Dórea is amazing, having him on my corner makes much difference and I work with these people I really care about and I trust the ones who are at my side and it makes my evolving more natural.

On an interview to Sensei SporTV, Anderson said you would be the next guy to be beaten on the middleweight division for a long time. After all this polemic involving the both of you, what did you think of this statement?

Actually, I didn’t see it coming, but I’m really glad to hear it from a great champion like Anderson is.

Now that you have won the second consecutive fight you’re back to the top of the division. What do you think of 2010 and what will you hope for 2011?

This year represented my maturing process, I’ve fought 14 rounds, I haven’t done 14 rounds in my whole career and I did it this year. There were four fights and I’ve only lost one, the title fight against Anderson and against him I think I’d have won at least one round, so I see this season as a very good one for me as an athlete. For 2011, I have to keep winning so I can have a title shot again.

After an undeniable victory over the giant Kendall Grove, the black belt Demian Maia is among the top names of the middleweight division of UFC. On an interview given to TATAME, Demian commented his difficulty of confronting a guy of 66, talked about his evolution on the exchange, talked about his season, told us his plans for 2011 and commented the statement that Anderson Silva has given about him on Sensei SporTV. Check there and other subjects on the below interview.

What did you think of your presentation against the giant Kendall Grove?

I’ve watched the fight later and I liked what I’ve saw, it was a very busy fight, I hit him with good jabs and I moved a lot on the ground, I couldn’t finish him, but I came close some times, I fit good coups and I showed I’m more mature inside the octagon.

You did a nice job on the first round and on the third you slowed it down a little. Did you administrated it because you knew you were better on the first rounds or were you tired?

I slowed it down because I knew I was winning the fight, but I believe that I clearly won the third round too, I attacked a lot, he came forwards but he couldn’t connect efficient coups, maybe one, and I’ve hit him like four times, it was a round where I explored my Boxing skills. When there were 40 seconds left, I grabbed his legs and hold him there because it didn’t make any sense to exchange with him and risk it all like a lottery, it would be a good thing for him and I would end up losing. Nowadays we have to stick to our game plan because it doesn’t work to just keep trying to punch the guy and finish being knocked out.

What was the most difficult part of confronting a guy of that height?

The most difficult thing is that we don’t have many people of that height to train with, but I was lucky to have Ednaldo Lula, a fighter of Salvador who is taller than him, besides I have trained Jiu-Jitsu with Antonio Peinado, who’s not as tall as Kendall. The difference was that Kendall trained with many guys of my size, while I only had one guys of his size to train with.

Even facing a fighter with a greater reach than you, you showed that you evolved a lot on Boxing. How is this stand-up work been doing?

I work with my masters and I like the guy a lot, professor Dórea, that you all know, André Lopes in Sao Paulo, who’s an excellent guy, a great person. Dórea is amazing, having him on my corner makes much difference and I work with these people I really care about and I trust the ones who are at my side and it makes my evolving more natural.

On an interview to Sensei SporTV, Anderson said you would be the next guy to be beaten on the middleweight division for a long time. After all this polemic involving the both of you, what did you think of this statement?

Actually, I didn’t see it coming, but I’m really glad to hear it from a great champion like Anderson is.

Now that you have won the second consecutive fight you’re back to the top of the division. What do you think of 2010 and what will you hope for 2011?

This year represented my maturing process, I’ve fought 14 rounds, I haven’t done 14 rounds in my whole career and I did it this year. There were four fights and I’ve only lost one, the title fight against Anderson and against him I think I’d have won at least one round, so I see this season as a very good one for me as an athlete. For 2011, I have to keep winning so I can have a title shot again.

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by MMAJunkie.com

UFC middleweight submission specialist, Demian Maia has been speaking about his unanimous decision win over Kendall Grove this past weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada, explaining his growth as an overall fighter is more important at the present time than another shot at the title.

Speaking after the fight to MMAJunkie.com, Maia was asked about what he saw next for him in his MMA career and said:

“I really don’t know. I want to keep winning. I know that if I keep winning, I’m going to fight for the title again. I knew that I won the first two rounds, so I thought, ‘OK, let’s try to strike a little bit.’ I think I landed a couple of good punches. I’ve got to try to do that. I’m learning to strike, and I’ve got to try to do that. I was controlling the distance, and I was feeling safe. I wasn’t brawling, so it wasn’t too much risk.”

“I’m happy because I won, of course. I wanted to submit him in this fight, but Kendall was smart. At one point I was baiting him to go to the side when I was on his back because I wanted to switch to the arm-and-neck submission.

“He didn’t go even though his corner was saying, ‘Go to the side, go to the side. Escape your hips.’ He was not escaping, and I was like, ‘[Expletive]!’ After the fight, he said to me, ‘You wanted me escape my hips to that side so you could switch to that submission.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you’re smart.’”

“I want to finish my fights. I tried hard, but it’s a very complex sport. I’m learning standup. I need to get better on my takedowns. I feel like I’m a much better fighter these days, but I just need to come back to my submissions.”

Maia has now put together back-to-back wins inside the octagon and it won’t be long before he’s challenging someone in the top five once again in order to fulfill his title aspirations. With mixed results against the likes of Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt, expect possibly a rematch next time out for the Brazilian.

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By Michael David Smith

Demian Maia controlled two rounds on the ground while Kendall Grove controlled one round standing up, and as a result Maia won a fairly easy and fairly uninteresting unanimous decision victory at Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighter Finale.

The judges all scored it for Maia, 29-28, giving Maia his second straight victory after his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva earlier this year.

Maia is a world-class Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner, and although he has said that he is working hard at improving his boxing, he clearly wanted to get the fight to the ground, and that’s what he did after a couple of minutes of exchanging on the ground. At the two-minute mark Maia had full mount and was landing punches, and he continued to control the fight on the ground through the end of the round. It was a first round that Maia won, 10-9.

At the start of the second Grove looked like he wanted to land punches from the outside and then step backward, clearly not wanting to engage with Maia in any way that would allow Maia to secure a takedown. Grove did that well at first, hitting Maia hard about a minute into the second round, but it wasn’t long before Maia got his takedown and got on top again. Grove was able to get back to his feet, but not for long, as Maia got him down again and showed off his superior wrestling, again winning the round 10-9 on my card.

At the start of the third Grove looked like he was having some success in the stand-up, landing strikes while Maia was mostly missing with his punches. The third round stayed entirely on the feet, and I gave the round to Grove, but it was still Maia’s fight, 29-28, on my scorecard. All three judges agreed, and Maia’s record improves to 14-2. Grove falls to 12-8

More: TUF 12 Finale Results | Demian Maia vs. Kendall Grove Live Blog

Demian Maia vs Kendall Grove

by Martins Denis on UFC

“I do what I love and I don’t play with my job. I try to be surrounded by good trainers, and I put my heart into every single minute of my job.”

Demian Maia is a new man.

Leading up to his bout against The Ultimate Fighter 3 winner Kendall Grove on the TUF 12 Finale card this weekend, Maia – a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu ace known for his ground game and a relentless search for the submission – continued with a particular boxing program that he began after his loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 102 and kept him improving in his last two matches.
We could say that he did it due to the brutal KO he suffered courtesy of a big right hand from Marquardt, and Maia agrees when it comes to the motivation of training more boxing than ever before.

“I already thought about improving my boxing before the Marquardt fight, but after that I made the decision,” he says. “I had a conversation with Minotauro Nogueira and the decision was to train in Cuba, but he couldn’t go, so he suggested for me to fly to Bahia and start sparring at the Champion Gym of Luiz Dorea. I feel great working there, not only my boxing, but my overall game. I felt I could dedicate more there in Bahia than in Sao Paulo, where I have other duties. In Bahia, there was only training, eating, resting and back to the training.”

The dedicated routine that Maia started after the fast knockout he suffered showed benefits when he fought Dan Miller at UFC 109 back in February. Not only were his fists accurate, but his movement, distance and approach showed significant growth. So, for a guy like Maia, who was considered to be out of his element when the fight remained standing, he performed very well and left behind the title of ‘one trick pony.’

“I love training, and if I didn’t go to Champion my will would have eventually put me on the road to achieving what I was looking for (the boxing),” Maia said. “But the energy inside that academy was fantastic and in addition to the training there was a super evolution to my standup game.”

Fighting Anderson Silva for the middleweight title two months later, after an initial display of striking at UFC 112, Maia couldn’t do much with the kingpin of the 185-pound weight division. Showing more heart than effectiveness, the Sao Paulo native only had small advantages in rounds four and five, where he showed his fighting spirit by swinging from his knees with a broken nose and a busted face while the capacity crowd screamed his name.

That wasn’t the type of technique that Maia trains every day, but he vows that some of the things he has developed inside the gym still haven’t been used in his fights.

“I’m training very differently than I was, but I still haven’t taken the risks to use what’s working in training into the fights,” Maia said. “I’m sure it could potentially be used properly against my opponents, but I’m still reluctant about showing it.”

“There are a lot of things involved when we’re fighting in the UFC; once you capitalize on the holes of your foe, you beat him – principally, when guys make a mistake on the ground and I sub them. But I think slowly I’ll get looser when it comes to this aspect (standup).”

The intention of the former middleweight title challenger is to be the complete UFC fighter, one who can be dangerous on the feet and lethal on the ground. But for a guy with eight submission victories in 15 fights (13-2), it sounds like he’s getting far from his essence, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, an essence which earned him praises from the Gracies and the title of the most skilled BJJ representative in MMA.

“I still have much of that, and no doubt when I step in the Octagon, I do it to represent BJJ,” Maia said. “But I think new tricks were added to help me in this aspect too. The time is short, the re-start on the feet is frequent and shooting all the time for a takedown can be punished with a knee, or you can get fatigued if the guy sprawls all the time. So it’s good to have more strategies in mind.”

In his last fight against ‘Super’ Mario Miranda at UFC 118 in August, Maia showed a bit of what he was talking about in the previous quote. The southpaw was loose on the feet and early in the first round he threw a left hand which missed, and then went for a takedown. On the ground, Maia gave zero chances to his fellow countryman, winning the fight by total dominance.

The ease in which Maia took Miranda down during the 15 minutes of that fight was interesting. But it was not by chance, as Maia trained wrestling at the Overtime Academy in Chicago, the same gym where he went to prepare for the tallest fighter in the middleweight division, the six-foot-six Grove. The Hawaiian fighter has 79 inches of reach compared to the 72 inches of the Brazilian – a huge advantage for the TUF 3 winner, who, besides that, loves the ground game and uses his reach on the feet to knock guys off their strategies.  These issues are all welcome for a man like Maia, who is improving his overall MMA game.

“I only have good things to say about Grove and his takedown defense, his striking and his submissions. So due to his height I trained with Antonio Peinado (6’4”) and Edinaldo Oliveira (6’7”) under the supervision of BJJ coach Wagner, to emulate the problems Grove can present to me.”

Happy to reach the masses through Spike TV, Maia hopes to expand his fan base on Saturday night. But first he needs to roll over Grove in a fashion that will impress these potential new followers.

“I’m very diligent and serious in what I do, and I know that I have the privilege of being in an event that a lot of fighters would like to be in. The UFC is a dream for many, and once I got there, I was appreciative of the chance,” Maia said. “I do what I love and I don’t play with my job. I try to be surrounded by good trainers, and I put my heart into every single minute of my job. We fight for the fans, so I fight to please them. That’s it.”

www.mmahq.com

BJJ ace Demian Maia (13-2) looks forward to his journey to another UFC middleweight title shot, as he faces off against TUF winner Kendall Grove (12-7) this Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale.

The 6’6″ Grove specifically requested a fight with the 2nd-degree BJJ black belt, in an effort to fight a tough opponent and work himself towards title contendership.

MMAHQ recently caught up with Maia to discuss his training, BJJ use in MMA and the upcoming fight against Grove.

“This is a good opponent with well-rounded MMA game,” Maia told MMAHQ during the interview.

Grove has long arms and legs, which Maia believes will pose a problem both on the feet and on the ground, but the Brazilian has worked specifically to neutralize any threats.

“I trained with some guys with his height and length,” Maia noted when discussing the matchup ,” you never know until you get in there. I did my homework and I got to spar with some guys his size and will be ready.”

Maia has worked to improve his striking and wrestling along with further committing to his elite BJJ leading up to the Grove fight. However, Kendall should look to control the distance and use his striking, with minimal kicks, to help prevent Maia from getting inside for an easier take down. Maia isn’t sure what to expect, but has worked dilligently in all elements in preparation.

“I don’t really know his game plan. I think he’ll try to avoid to fight from the bottom. If he takes me down, he’ll try to ground and pound and submit. He has good BJJ and I don’t think he’ll be afraid to go on the ground.”

When Grove attempted submissions from his back in his decision loss to Ricardo Almeida, he left himself exposed.When Almeida passed Grove’s guard, he was able to utilize an aggressive submission attack whilst using ground and pound. Following Almeida’s game plan, Maia can look to drag the fight to the ground and control Grove.

“Yeah of course, everything is possible (on the ground). I’m getting better (with) my ground and pound … but I’m always looking for submissions anytime on the ground.”

The ground threat Maia poses to opponents continues to evolve from his elite BJJ background directly into MMA. Trying to transition from pure BJJ to effective BJJ for MMA has caused some fighters to greatly struggle. Maia, in contrast, said he hasn’t had much difficulty implementing his traditional BJJ into MMA BJJ.

“I know Jiu Jitsu … it’s all self defense and I can use it in MMA. Since I started BJJ (white and blue belt) level, I was already thinking about MMA,” Maia said. “I tried to sweep black belts, use single leg sweeps … always aware of what’s happening.”

Possible rematches with middleweight champion Anderson Silva or Nate Marquardt — who knocked out Maia in dramatic fashion at UFC 102 — are often discussed by MMA fans, but Maia only has one objective in mind:

“I’m completely focused on Grove, and even after that, I don’t want to think about when or who I fight. I want to fight as hard as (I) can on Saturday.”

Maia meets Grove on the main card of the TUF 12 Finale this Saturday night for free on Spike TV.

Maia would like to thank the UFC and MMA fans for supporting him, along with BadBoy.

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by Carlos Eduardo Ozório on GracieMag

Demian now working his physical conditioning with Rafael Alejarra.

Demian Maia is wrapping up training in Bahia to head to the USA, where he will face Kendal Gove next Monday, December 4, for the final of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show season twelve.

As reporter by physical conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra, Demian is training with coaches Luiz Dórea and Wagner Motta, as well as a number of top-notch sparring partners, like UFC heavyweight title challenger Junior “Cigano” and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu world champion Antonio Peinado.

“Demian’s been in Bahia working on his striking, but he hasn’t left out Jiu-Jitsu, as he’s working with guys like Antonio Peinado, who has a similar reach to Grove’s. I just adapted his training to that,” says Alejarra, who guarantees the fighter will be in tip-top shape come TUF 12.

Check back with GRACIEMAG.com for more on the UFC and Jiu-Jits here on GRACIEMAG.com.

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Video: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10199074/Sequence%2001_1.mp4

Next Seminar Maia in Brazil : Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 14:00

Local:  Colégio Anglo Taquaral - Campinas/SP,  see the map

Read details of the first seminar Maia in Brazil on October 2, 2010.

Track Seminars Maia in search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Terra, Uol

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