Long time top ten middleweight Demian Maia will be making the move down to the welterweight division for his next fight according to his Twitter account earlier today:
Guys, now I ll moving down to 170 pounds. Next fight I ll be a welterweight
Maia (15-4) has fought exclusively as a middleweight during his UFC stint which began in 2007. A submission specialist, Maia rattled off four consecutive submission wins in the UFC before tasting defeat at the hands of Nate Marquardt. He holds a first round submission win over number one contender Chael Sonnen, and lost to Anderson Silva via unanimous decision in his only title fight at UFC 112.
The move could be a much needed rebirth for Maia who is only (1-2) in his last three fights as a middleweight. He was never a huge middleweight, so it’ll be interesting to see how he’ll perform with the added weight cut as he looked pretty exhausted early on in his last middleweight fight against Chris Weidman.
Do you think he’ll be a contender in the welterweight division?
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[…] UFC fighter Demian Maia confirms move to welterweight divisionPro MMA NowNext fight I ll be a welterweight Maia (15-4) has fought exclusively as a middleweight during his UFC stint which began in 2007. A submission specialist, Maia rattled off four consecutive submission wins in the UFC before tasting defeat at the hands of … […]