Full Contact Fighter Database

Home

>

News

>

Article

Media

Friday, Jul 31, 2015

UFC 190: Demian Maia Believes he Can Beat Any Welterweight “on a Good Day”

Demian Maia (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Although some folks may have written off Demian Maia as a championship contender, the grappling titan still believes he can defeat any welterweight when he’s at his best.

Maia is booked to fight Neil Magny at UFC 190 on Saturday, following back-to-back wins over Alexander Yakovlev and Ryan LaFlare. The victories have kept Maia in the top ten rankings, after the former middleweight was defeated by Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald in consecutive bouts.

Recently the 37 year-old fighter–who is currently ranked #6–spoke to UFC.com about Saturday’s bout. While doing so, here is what Maia had to say, while discussing his abilities:

“I feel that I have a chance at beating anybody in my weight class on a good day and with the right strategy, I certainly do,” Maia said. “There are so many great fighters in this weight class and it’s so competitive nowadays, that I really think anyone can beat anyone on a good night, which is great and complicated at the same time because it makes it much tougher to climb up the rankings. I think I evolved a lot as fighter in the last years, not only with the weight class change but with the training changes, the different approaches I got to the game from the past couple of years, and also the experiences such as the Shields and Rory (MacDonald) fights. I don’t know if it’s at the right time or not, but we can’t control the past anymore, so I focus on what’s happening now and I want to always try my best and keep evolving as long as I can.”

In Magny (15-3), Maia (20-6) will face one of the division’s rising commodities, as the American has won 7 straight bouts.

UFC 190 will be hosted by the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
Have a comment about this story? Please share with us by filling out the fields below.

Comments are closed.