Demian Maia To Face Chael Sonnen At UFC 95
Demian Maia
According to his official website, UFC middleweight Demian Maia will next face off against Team Quest product Chael Sonnen at UFC 95, slated for London, England on February 21st.
A highly decorated grappler, undefeated Demian Maia (9-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) most recently choked out Nate Quarry in the first round of their meeting at UFC 91 this past November. Prior to that, Maia took out Ryan Jensesn, Ed Herman and Jason MacDonald, all via submission. Maia has already racked up three “submission of the night” honors out of his four UFC bouts.
A veteran of Pancrase, the UFC and BodogFight, Chael Sonnen (21-9 MMA, 1-2 UFC) returns to the UFC after competing in their sister promotion, the WEC, for his past three bouts. Known for his strong wrestling acumen, Sonnen last fought and defeated WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho via unanimous decision. The bout was supposed to be for the WEC middleweight title, however opponent Paulo Filho notably failed to make weight forcing a non-title match.
Sonnen also holds victories over Jason Miller, Jason Lambert, Amar Suloev, Trevor Prangley and Tim Credeur.
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An extrememly stiff challenge for Chael Sonnen. Demian Maia is a very bad matchup for a lot of fighters out there. Clearly Dana is not giving the new WEC castoffs any easy welcome fights.
On a side note, I think Maia will run into very little trouble in this fight.
I heard rumors of Sonnen challenging Silva from the start so in my opinion this fight could possibly be for the #1 contender spot. Either that or since the Spider is fighting Leites in April, the winner of Maia VS Sonnen fight either the winner of Marquardt VS gouveia or Okami……..
However I do think that Maia’s winning streak and the fact that Sonnen beat former #2 middleweight in the world make this for the #1 contender spot.
They’ll have to wait in line like everyone else.
I think this could be for a number one contender spot. Maia is likely going to pose the same submission problems to Sonnen that Filho had (the real Filho, not that shell of a man that fought Sonnen last), only I think Maia is better. If Sonnen beats Maia, I could see him being in line for a title shot, and vice versa. I’m pulling for Maia in this one, not sure why, I just don’t like Sonnen, for no real reason.
Maia v A.Silva would definitely be a good match up in my book sometime before the end of 2009.
Sonnen is a joke. Maia will choke him out in the first round.
wont the winner of bisping vs Hendo/Franklin be the number 1 condender
i thing silva should fight okami in april instead of leites
w.siva vs c.liddell and
r.couture vs nogueira at ufc 100
i think that would be good
Chael has a bad habit of leaving his arm out there for some odd reason, what do u think Maia will do if he gets ahold of it? Also this is most likely for the #1 contender spot
the whole Bisbing v Hendo/Franklin thing is sooo up in the air its ridiculous..
Okami v Anderson, might happen before Silva gets done with MMA but unlikely anytime soon especially after the performance he gave @ 92 (with the help from Lister ofcourse)
Wanderlei v Chuck II, possible but Chuck wants to fight in March so we shall see, I do agree that Chuck will be fighting on the UFC 100 card unless something weird happens
I also believe that UFC 100 should have a crazy stacked card unlike anything we have seen before, top to bottom filled with talent, wishful thinking i know.. As well they should have 3 belts on the line that night, this quite possibly could be the nail in every other organizations coffin if done right
Alright i love the wec fighters going to the ufc man.
These new match ups are going to be insane.
Dude sonnen’s got it tough cuz maia is on fire. I would have liked to see bisping vs maia because maia called him out and i mean i want to see bisping get his ass kicked cuz that dude is overrated. sonnen vs maia is also a good match. Maia seems to be one or two wins from a title shot so sonnen better bring it.
Maia deserves better competition, his jiu jits is sick.
I have a feeling this won’t be much different than Quarry-Maia…Maia shoots for a takedown, Sonnen sprawls, Maia pulls guard and finishes with a sub.
Hopefully Sonnen doesn’t have his way and repeat Sonnen/Filho 2 which was disasterous with Filho lying on the mat and Sonnen standing there refusing to get into his guard.
As for the number one contender status, I think that either of these guys (or Okami, Bisping, Gouveia, or Henderson) would be a bigger challenge for Silva than Leites. I question whether Bisping vs. Hendo/Franklin can be for the number one contender because I think that there is no chance in hell that Franklin will ever be given another shot at Silva no matter how many other guys he can beat.
It could be
Marquardt Vs Maia for the #1 Contender, Maia and Marquardt are the top 2 guys other then Okami, so I feel thats your #1 contendership
Bisping Vs Sonnen – Bisping and Sonnen are more strikers duel , see where Bisping and Sonnen is at when it comes to striking
should*
I am going to go ahead and break from the crowd and say that sonnen is going to break him in half. He is a good fighter dont get me wrong but i dont beleive he is on the level that even filho was. Sonnen was beating filho just as bad their first fight as he was the second so lets not say it was a different fighter sonnen just got caught their first fight which is why it wont happen again. I dont beleive that people give sonnen enough credit but i beleive they will after this fight.
If you’re right and Sonnen does pull out a win, I will definitely be one of the first to give him props.
Sonnen is 21~9~1 notable wins include
Filho, Baker, Prangley, Stiebling, Mayhem Miller
Notable losses include
Filho (armbar), Gumby 2x (guillotine,tko),
Babalu (triangle), Forrest (triangle), Martin(tko)
Notable draw~ Gono
Maia 9~0~0
6 wins by sub, ended last 6 fights via sub or tko, plus in his 3 UFC fights he has finished all by sub on opponents I believe can beat Sonnen (Quarry,MacDonald,Herman)
My point is u have a sub guy who is fighting a guy who seems vulnerable to losing by submissions, yet if Sonnen wins I will (figuritivly) tip my hat to you in your prediction..
Didn’t know Griffin and Sonnen had fought. It doesn’t surprise me that Griffin won though.
ya didnt suprise me that he won either, also before someone calls me out on the fact that they believe that Herman and Sonnen would never fight, i tend to agree with that yet i still think if they did Herman would win (they were training partners in Oregon for a long time, still might be i dunno)
yea man i really dont like sonnen that much myself and im hoping maia submits him just so he can make up another one of his stupid excuses. cant wait lol
Sonnen to verbally tap due to self defecation…
maia has 1 of the top jits games in the biz his striking needs work 4sure if hes at xtreme cotoure my boy tompkins will address that cant wait 2watch maia shut him up!!