The UFC has issued an official press release to confirm some of the speculation that Demian Maia would be taking Vitor Belfort’s place at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. This match will co-headline the event alongside BJ Penn’s title defense against Frankie Edgar.
UFC® ANNOUNCES ANDERSON SILVA vs. DEMIAN MAIA
FOR UFC 112 MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, LIVE FROM FERRARI WORLD
YAS ISLAND, ABU DHABI
Belfort Injured; Maia Steps up to Face Silva for Title Shot
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Following a hard-fought three round win over Dan Miller at UFC 109 that showed him to be more than just a submission expert, Demian Maia will jump right back into training camp for the biggest fight of his career – an April 10th meeting with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 112 at Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
Maia replaces countryman Vitor Belfort, who underwent emergency surgery on his left shoulder earlier this week to fix a chronic injury that got worse in his training camp for Silva.
“It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White. “Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so top six middleweight Demian Maia will step in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion, a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, and he is 12-1 in MMA and coming off a win over Dan Miller at UFC 109. Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”
A 32-year old native of Sao Paulo, Brazil who, like Silva, owns a black belt in jiu-jitsu, Maia (12-1) has won six of his seven UFC bouts, including five by submission, with four of those victories earning him Submission of the Night honors. He also holds a 2009 submission win over number one middleweight contender Chael Sonnen. In his most recent bout, at UFC 109 on February 6th, Maia went three rounds with talented New Jersey native Dan Miller and earned a near shutout unanimous decision. Now he will face the pound for pound king in Silva, who is unbeaten in ten UFC bouts and looking to add to his middleweight title defense record when he puts his belt on the line for the sixth time.
In the co-main event of UFC 112, lightweight champion BJ Penn looks to continue his dominant reign when he takes on Frankie Edgar. Also, two legends meet for the first time when future UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes battles groundfighting master Renzo Gracie.
Payout Perspective:
The move is surprising, but makes sense when you look at the entire situation from the perspective of the UFC’s desire to keep Anderson Silva on the 112 card. That constraint removes a number of alternatives for the organization and really only gave them Maia at 185 or Randy Couture at 205.
This is MMA, you can’t discount anyone; but, Anderson is likely to beat both Maia and Couture quite handily. If Silva and Couture fought at 112, it would have likely sold gangbusters but also ruined Couture’s future drawing power – perhaps forever. In fighting Maia, the UFC loses much less; it gets its Silva title defense and keeps the Couture ace in its pocket for another few events (the rumored UFC 115 headline against Franklin and possibly even a title shot at 205 should Couture win his next fight).
I would have been inclined to move Silva off the card entirely, but this card is very important to Zuffa. The quality of the card is not only a show of good faith and reward to Zuffa’s new partners, but a statement to the world sports community with respect to Zuffa’s international expansion goals. Thus, it’s understandable that Zuffa wanted to keep Silva on the Abu Dhabi show.
I like Maia but he has no speed and no head movement and shouldnt last more than 2 minutes if Silva actually shows up to fight. Of all the BJJ guys in the UFC i think Palhares is the most dangerous for Silva. He has great leg locks and a double leg shot that is more effective them many wrestling based guys. But earning a title shot with ZERO striking and suspect cardio isnt going to happen no matter how you match up wth the champ.