Chris Weidman vs Demian Maia for FOX card

3rd fight in the FOX Jan 28th is Maia vs Undefeated Chris Weidman!!!

-from Dana's twitter. Paul Harris turned the fight down

Hard to believe he turned it down. This is a huge opportunity for him with Fox and being the 2nd #1 contender on the line.

Weidman is a very interesting choice. I like it.

Big step up in competition for Weidman. I would rather see Maia vs Belcher.

Really curious as to what Weidman's gameplan is going to be for this fight

Can't put much of a gameplan together in 11 days, keep the fight standing would be the best advice Serra can give him with such short time to prepare

Ninja wrote:

Big step up in competition for Weidman. I would rather see Maia vs Belcher.

Totally agree.

Sucks for Maia. Dangerous fight with no upside. A win over a short notice opponent with no name recognition isn't going to improve his stock. He should have hoped on the next card to give a more known opponent time to recover. Dangerous fight for Maia. He was gonna roll Bisping with a quickness.

This will come down to who has better striking.

jimbojones1950 wrote:

This will come down to who has better striking.

You think so? I know Chris is a great wrestler but Maia can submit anyone. I know Chris doesn't have the LOL sub defense of Sonnen but Maia straight dominated Chael. I guess Chris has a good chance to keep it standing if he chooses though. Like I said, tough fight for Maia.

OU wrote:

jimbojones1950 wrote:

This will come down to who has better striking.

You think so? I know Chris is a great wrestler but Maia can submit anyone. I know Chris doesn't have the LOL sub defense of Sonnen but Maia straight dominated Chael. I guess Chris has a good chance to keep it standing if he chooses though. Like I said, tough fight for Maia.

Personally, I think Maia caught Chael and surprised him with the takedown. I think if they fought again, Sonnen would outbox him similar to how he fought Filho the second time. As for Weidman vs. Maia, I think Weidman can hold his own against Maia on the ground (i know many of you will call me crazy, but I don't make that statement out of nowhere), but will likely choose to keep the fight standing if he can outstrike him. If Weidman starts getting tagged early and goes for the takedown, I think you'll be surprised at how good he is on the ground. I think Weidman wins by UD.

jimbojones1950 wrote:

OU wrote:

jimbojones1950 wrote:

This will come down to who has better striking.

You think so? I know Chris is a great wrestler but Maia can submit anyone. I know Chris doesn't have the LOL sub defense of Sonnen but Maia straight dominated Chael. I guess Chris has a good chance to keep it standing if he chooses though. Like I said, tough fight for Maia.

Personally, I think Maia caught Chael and surprised him with the takedown. I think if they fought again, Sonnen would outbox him similar to how he fought Filho the second time. As for Weidman vs. Maia, I think Weidman can hold his own against Maia on the ground (i know many of you will call me crazy, but I don't make that statement out of nowhere), but will likely choose to keep the fight standing if he can outstrike him. If Weidman starts getting tagged early and goes for the takedown, I think you'll be surprised at how good he is on the ground. I think Weidman wins by UD.

Well I haven't forgot about Chris and his grappling. I remember reading about him doing very well in BJJ competition here:
https://ninjasplace.forumotion.net/t8918-chris-weidman?highlight=Weidman

Still I think Maia has shown alot of improvement recently and I think in an MMA fight he has the ability to finish Chris.

OU wrote:

jimbojones1950 wrote:

OU wrote:

jimbojones1950 wrote:

This will come down to who has better striking.

You think so? I know Chris is a great wrestler but Maia can submit anyone. I know Chris doesn't have the LOL sub defense of Sonnen but Maia straight dominated Chael. I guess Chris has a good chance to keep it standing if he chooses though. Like I said, tough fight for Maia.

Personally, I think Maia caught Chael and surprised him with the takedown. I think if they fought again, Sonnen would outbox him similar to how he fought Filho the second time. As for Weidman vs. Maia, I think Weidman can hold his own against Maia on the ground (i know many of you will call me crazy, but I don't make that statement out of nowhere), but will likely choose to keep the fight standing if he can outstrike him. If Weidman starts getting tagged early and goes for the takedown, I think you'll be surprised at how good he is on the ground. I think Weidman wins by UD.

Well I haven't forgot about Chris and his grappling. I remember reading about him doing very well in BJJ competition here:
https://ninjasplace.forumotion.net/t8918-chris-weidman?highlight=Weidman

Still I think Maia has shown alot of improvement recently and I think in an MMA fight he has the ability to finish Chris.

Maia absolutely has the ability to finish Chris, and anyone at 185 for that matter. I cant wait for this fight though. It should really give us a good indication where Weidman is, even though he is taking this on short notice. Training under Danaher has been elevating his bjj a lot.

OU wrote:

Sucks for Maia. Dangerous fight with no upside. A win over a short notice opponent with no name recognition isn't going to improve his stock. He should have hoped on the next card to give a more known opponent time to recover. Dangerous fight for Maia. He was gonna roll Bisping with a quickness.

Doubt this was an option. This card is weak enough as is, losing Munoz did not help, losing Maia as well would have been yet another blow. UFC def made it worth his while.

captain organic wrote:

OU wrote:

Sucks for Maia. Dangerous fight with no upside. A win over a short notice opponent with no name recognition isn't going to improve his stock. He should have hoped on the next card to give a more known opponent time to recover. Dangerous fight for Maia. He was gonna roll Bisping with a quickness.

Doubt this was an option. This card is weak enough as is, losing Munoz did not help, losing Maia as well would have been yet another blow. UFC def made it worth his while.

They made have made it worth his while($) in the short term. But this is a dangerous fight that could screw him in the long run. It's not a good style matchup and it's almost a lose-lose for Maia. Chris is coming in as an undgerdog on short notice with nothing to lose. Very dangerous.

meh.

OU wrote:

captain organic wrote:

OU wrote:

Sucks for Maia. Dangerous fight with no upside. A win over a short notice opponent with no name recognition isn't going to improve his stock. He should have hoped on the next card to give a more known opponent time to recover. Dangerous fight for Maia. He was gonna roll Bisping with a quickness.

Doubt this was an option. This card is weak enough as is, losing Munoz did not help, losing Maia as well would have been yet another blow. UFC def made it worth his while.

They made have made it worth his while($) in the short term. But this is a dangerous fight that could screw him in the long run. It's not a good style matchup and it's almost a lose-lose for Maia. Chris is coming in as an undgerdog on short notice with nothing to lose. Very dangerous.

But a win on Fox ups his profile in a big way, staying on the card keeps him in Dana's good graces(and we know how important that is), and he prob gets extra green.

Now it's difficult cause Weidman is a much different fighter then Bisping, but Weidman having to fight a bjj practitioner the likes of Maia on short notice is also a pretty difficult task.

Remaining in Dana's good graces is a good point. Here is a tweet I read this morning.
"@demianmaia thank u for always stepping up no matter who is thrown at u!!!" -Dana White


I'm just pointing out this is a dangerous fight and Chris is more equipped to deal with a grappler of Maia's caliber then just about anyone that could have been selected to fill in here.

OU wrote:

Remaining in Dana's good graces is a good point. Here is a tweet I read this morning.
"@demianmaia thank u for always stepping up no matter who is thrown at u!!!" -Dana White


I'm just pointing out this is a dangerous fight and Chris is more equipped to deal with a grappler of Maia's caliber then just about anyone that could have been selected to fill in here.

true but writing this off as high risk low reward, is not taking the Fox factor into account. Biggest platform of his career. Pull off a highlight reel sub here, and he marks himself as the premier bjj player in the sport(deserved or not).

captain organic wrote:

OU wrote:

Remaining in Dana's good graces is a good point. Here is a tweet I read this morning.
"@demianmaia thank u for always stepping up no matter who is thrown at u!!!" -Dana White


I'm just pointing out this is a dangerous fight and Chris is more equipped to deal with a grappler of Maia's caliber then just about anyone that could have been selected to fill in here.

true but writing this off as high risk low reward, is not taking the Fox factor into account. Biggest platform of his career. Pull off a highlight reel sub here, and he marks himself as the premier bjj player in the sport(deserved or not).

+1 for OU and Cap

captain organic wrote:

OU wrote:

Remaining in Dana's good graces is a good point. Here is a tweet I read this morning.
"@demianmaia thank u for always stepping up no matter who is thrown at u!!!" -Dana White


I'm just pointing out this is a dangerous fight and Chris is more equipped to deal with a grappler of Maia's caliber then just about anyone that could have been selected to fill in here.

true but writing this off as high risk low reward, is not taking the Fox factor into account. Biggest platform of his career. Pull off a highlight reel sub here, and he marks himself as the premier bjj player in the sport(deserved or not).

Well the reward is much lower then it was. However factoring in the "good graces" it could put Maia in position to get a call down the line as a fill in position. I'm sure he will be on the short list to get the call when an opportunity arises.

The third fight on the main card will feature prospect Chris Weidman
taking Demian Maia, and while many are stating that it's too early for
Weidman to take such a tough bout, the guys who set the lines (Bodog in
this case) feel a bit differently:

Weidman -200
Maia +160
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/1/18/2716150/ufc-on-fox-chael-sonnen-vs-michael-bisping-betting-favorite-maia-weidman-mma-news

OU wrote:

The third fight on the main card will feature prospect Chris Weidman
taking Demian Maia, and while many are stating that it's too early for
Weidman to take such a tough bout, the guys who set the lines (Bodog in
this case) feel a bit differently:

Weidman -200
Maia +160
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/1/18/2716150/ufc-on-fox-chael-sonnen-vs-michael-bisping-betting-favorite-maia-weidman-mma-news

Im pulling for Weidman, but that betting line is unexpected. I was hoping the line would be the reverse, but it will prob move closer to even next week.

I'm sure early money will be on Maia, that line will move for sure. I like Chris but I'm not sure who I'm pulling for. Maia was put in a tough spot and I kind of hope he pulls through. He also did some MMA training/workouts with DeMarco Murray.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/1/19/2718554/demian-maia-didnt-want-to-fight-palhares-due-to-lack-of-brazilian
For his part, Maia says that he didn't want to fight Palhares. Not
because he was afraid, but because he thinks that Brazilian
middleweights shouldn't face each other. Via SporTV (translated by Tom Mendes):

"It was rumored (a fight with Palhares), but I thought there would
not be any possibilities (of it happening), because he just fought, it
doesn't make sense for him to throw himself into another fight right
now. "Toquinho" trained a few months for this fight. Just because it was
fast doesn't mean there were no wear and tears. But I don't even think
about that. To be honest, the Brazilian fans should be more worried
about seeing us fighting foreigners. There are (only) a few Brazilian
fighters in the division and I think that, aside of the title, since
it's Anderson who is the champion, the Brazilians should not face each
other."

"I'm not worried at all. I have a lot of respect for his
jiu-jitsu, but if we go to the ground, I'm confident and excited to
prove where I'm at with my jiu-jitsu. He's going to have a lot to worry
about, too. If we go to the floor, I'm looking for submissions just
like it's anybody else. I'm not the guy who's going to be starstruck. I
believe in myself and I think I can go in there and submit him.
There's definitely a risk, but I could fight Joe Schmoe tomorrow and
lose. That's the way this sport is. So I'm not holding out to fight
guys that aren't that good. I'd rather take my risk against guys that
people think are real good. I'm excited about that. There's pressure
that goes with every fight whether you're the favorite, underdog or
there on short notice. The bottom line is I've got to go in there and
eat him up on January 28th."

Undefeated middleweight wrestler Chris Weidman (via MMA Fighting)