Demian Maia meets Jorge Santiago at UFC 136

http://esporte.ig.com.br/lutas/demian+maia+fara+duelo+brasileiro+contra+santiago+no+ufc+136/n1597081891495.html

Quote :

O ex-desafiante dos médios do UFC Demian Maia tem um novo adversário definido. Segundo apurou a reportagem do iG, o paulista protagonizará o duelo brasileiro contra Jorge Santiago no UFC 136, no dia 8 de outubro, em Houston. Os dois já aceitaram os termos do contrato, e a entidade oficializará a luta em breve.

“Fechamos há pouco tempo e está tudo pronto. Será uma luta boa para mim. Na minha opinião, ele é um top 10 do mundo e sempre quero enfrentar caras bons. Não faz diferença o fato de ser brasileiro, pois os americanos se enfrentam toda hora por lá”, afirmou Demian.

O combate valerá a chance de redenção para ambos os brasileiros. Em sua última aparição no octógono, Demian Maia acabou derrotado por Mark Muñoz na decisão dos juízes após um confronto bastante disputado do UFC 131, em junho.

Assim como Demian, Jorge Santiago também precisa da vitória para voltar a cair nas graças do UFC. Em seu retorno à franquia no UFC 130, em maio, ele foi nocauteado pelo herói de guerra Brian Stann e corre o risco de ser cortado do torneio com um novo revés.

“Sempre sinto que tenho obrigação da vitória e nessa luta não é diferente. Faço o meu melhor, sem importar o que acontece fora do octógono. Vou treinar da melhor forma possível para chegar no meu auge”, completou o lutador, que também é jornalista.

O UFC 136 deverá contar com a participação de outro brasileiro no card principal. O campeão dos penas José Aldo já se prepara para enfrentar Kenny Florian nesta data em busca de sua segunda defesa do cinturão.

Quote :

Two Brazilian standouts looking to rebound from recent setbacks will face off in Houston.

Onetime middleweight contender Demian Maia (14-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Jorge Santiago (23-9 MMA, 1-3 UFC) are set to meet at UFC 136, according to a recent report on Brazilian news site iG.

UFC officials have yet to confirm the bout. UFC 136 takes place Oct. 8 at Houston's Toyota Center.

Maia most recently took on Mark Munoz at UFC 131 and came up short on scorecards when Munoz's wrestling proved difficult to deal with when the two grapplers inevitably hit the mat. The loss snapped a two-fight win streak in which he bested Mario Miranda and Kendall Grove.

Santiago, meanwhile, wants to erase the bad taste left from his octagon debut, which came after a highly successful stint overseas. The middleweight took on Brian Stann at UFC 130 and was soundly outstruck en route to a second-round TKO loss. The setback took the steam out of a 11-1 streak he amassed that included winning the Sengoku middleweight title after a 1-2 stint in the UFC a half-decade ago.

Santiago was released by the ailing Japanese promotion earlier this year and shortly afterward signed onto the UFC.

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Nice fight, I wonder if Maia can finally score a KO here.

Nice matchup. The winner is up there in the mix again.

Maia wins by stoppage.

looks like B won the race by a couple seconds.

And my link is in the official language

bobbitt15 wrote:

And my link is in the official language

haha, i just noticed that!

killerofchicken wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

And my link is in the official language

haha, i just noticed that!

Me too lol

OU wrote:

killerofchicken wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

And my link is in the official language

haha, i just noticed that!

Me too lol

so technically i win! lol

killerofchicken wrote:

OU wrote:

killerofchicken wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

And my link is in the official language

haha, i just noticed that!

Me too lol

so technically i win! lol

I think Jorge Santiago wins this. A bit more rounded...a lot of it depends on if he can keep Maia from taking him to the mat. I got Jorge with the edge standing, and i think he can go all 3 rounds in a ground battle...but he's not going to a win a fight that spends the majority of the time on the mat with Maia. So TDD will be key. If it's as good as Millers was against Maia(which was not great) i think he'll win...the reason Miller lost that fight was because his striking was even worse than Maia's. I'll go with Jorge here.

"even worse than Maia"

Is it still 2007 with you kings? Where Kongo the can crusher is still respected as a striker and Maia isn't a good striker?

Wolfgangsta wrote:

"even worse than Maia"

Is it still 2007 with you kings? Where Kongo the can crusher is still respected as a striker and Maia isn't a good striker?

Maybe i'm still in 2007 but atleast i'm still on the planet earth..you seem to be on some planet where Demian Maia is a good striker.

or maybe you're just sour at me because i'm not on the meat wagon.

Honestly Maia has developed into a decent striker. Lets not forget he rocked the shit out of Mark Munoz in the first round and spend almost the entire round pounding the shit out of him standing. It wasn't until the second round that he forgot how to throw a punch and started reverting back to pure grapple mode that he got himself in trouble.

I'm not saying Munoz is some ultra good striker or anything but the fact that Maia was willing to trade for an entire round with someone as powerful as Munoz means he's confident in his hands.

Both Maia and Munoz have developed great striking and are no where near where they were two years ago. They prove the theory that the elite athletes in MMA can often learn new skills to the point they become high level in them as well. They were top of the line in their core disciplines and are quickly evolving into well rounded fighters. The reason Maia stopped striking as well against Munoz is because Munoz rocked his fucking world with a huge shot and it took some confidence away for a period in the middle of the fight and caused him to revert to his base.

Munoz has learned to use the same skills that he has added to improving his timing while striking to vastly upgrade his takedown ability. Now he is setting shit up with strikes and exploding in with counters, where in the past his pedigree would fail him because his shots were too telegraphed and guys could sprawl him.

Maia needs to do the same to compensate for the fact his clinch based takedown game, ground control and sub offense has taken a huge hit. His time is obviously being spent almost completely on striking and while it is paying huge dividends there, his effectiveness as a ground fighter has taken a noticeable hit. However his entire game still benefits from an increased ability to take the fight to the ground. If he could shoot better from the outside it opens up everything a bit more, from his striking, to his BJJ, to even his clinch and even his judo game.

And really, Maia vs Munoz was one of the best fights of the year in terms of back and fourth action relating to high level skills being used in the cage. Both of these guys are getting better and better and they will fight again.

Maia has the ability to KO Santiago here and I hope it happens.

Maia has gained confidence and has pretty much been fearless in the stand up since he decided fuck it in the 5th round of the Silva fight, so he atleast isnt so stiff and dragging his feet...but confidence and ability are not always related and getting in on Munoz is no big achievement, as he gets hit a lot. Improved does not mean good. I still think Maia's success in the stand up in the year 2011 is limited to the Dan Millers of the world.

Wolfgangsta wrote:

Both Maia and Munoz have developed great striking and are no where near where they were two years ago. They prove the theory that the elite athletes in MMA can often learn new skills to the point they become high level in them as well. They were top of the line in their core disciplines and are quickly evolving into well rounded fighters. The reason Maia stopped striking as well against Munoz is because Munoz rocked his fucking world with a huge shot and it took some confidence away for a period in the middle of the fight and caused him to revert to his base.

Munoz has learned to use the same skills that he has added to improving his timing while striking to vastly upgrade his takedown ability. Now he is setting shit up with strikes and exploding in with counters, where in the past his pedigree would fail him because his shots were too telegraphed and guys could sprawl him.

Maia needs to do the same to compensate for the fact his clinch based takedown game, ground control and sub offense has taken a huge hit. His time is obviously being spent almost completely on striking and while it is paying huge dividends there, his effectiveness as a ground fighter has taken a noticeable hit. However his entire game still benefits from an increased ability to take the fight to the ground. If he could shoot better from the outside it opens up everything a bit more, from his striking, to his BJJ, to even his clinch and even his judo game.

And really, Maia vs Munoz was one of the best fights of the year in terms of back and fourth action relating to high level skills being used in the cage. Both of these guys are getting better and better and they will fight again.

Maia has the ability to KO Santiago here and I hope it happens.

great striking? Maia and Munoz?

Better? sure. Great or even good? maybe Munoz in the good cetegory(only on the if he hits you end, but Munoz gets hit a lot and throws haymakers) but not seeing it with Maia..but have noticed most of everything else you mentioned in your second paragraph.

Ludo wrote:

Honestly Maia has developed into a decent striker. Lets not forget he rocked the shit out of Mark Munoz in the first round and spend almost the entire round pounding the shit out of him standing. It wasn't until the second round that he forgot how to throw a punch and started reverting back to pure grapple mode that he got himself in trouble.

I'm not saying Munoz is some ultra good striker or anything but the fact that Maia was willing to trade for an entire round with someone as powerful as Munoz means he's confident in his hands.

+1

Munoz fights have been great recently. Always tons of action. Pulling for Maia against an overrated Santiago.

Santiago still is more dynamic and has more striking tools in the standup. Maia can catch, key word catch, Santiago and win that way, but Jorge still has the better striking skill to strike his way to a win here. His advantage on the feet is like Maia's on the ground.

This is a tough fight to call. Maia has shown to be tough to finish, with the exception of the quick Nate KO. He took plenty of punishment from Anderson and managed to hang on and not get finished. He has been pretty aggressive lately and I could see him holding his own on his feet long enough to get this fight down and finish it.