Why Demian Maia won’t be grappling Nick Diaz at Metamoris

LAS VEGAS – Surging UFC welterweight contender Demian Maia said he was offered a grappling match with Nick Diaz and would have accepted it, but Diaz’s participation was suddenly taken off the table.

While in Las Vegas for this past weekend’s UFC 195 event, Maia (22-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) said Ralek Gracie, who promotes the all-grappling Metamoris event, offered him a grappling match with the onetime welterweight title challenger at a future event.

“Last week, my manager was talking with Ralek, and they offered us to fight Diaz,” Maia said. “I said, ‘Let’s go.’ For a long time, I haven’t fought under jiu-jitsu rules.”

MMAjunkie was unable to reach Gracie to confirm Maia’s account of a Metamoris offer, and Diaz’s reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Past Metamoris bouts have featured UFC vets such as Chael Sonnen and Renato Sobral. In 2012, Diaz was announced to face Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout Braulio Estima, but he no-showed the event.

Currently, Diaz (26-10 MMA, 7-7 UFC) is under suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which handed him a five-year term after his third positive marijuana test stemming from a decision loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 183. Reports of a potential settlement have indicated Diaz could be cleared far sooner than initially slated, though the NSAC has taken no official action toward that end.

Maia clarified his acceptance of the Diaz grappling match was on the condition that the UFC approved the bout. Both fighters are under contract with the MMA promotion, with Maia currently pushing for a title shot.

But the Brazilian submission ace said the offer never got to the point where the UFC had to get involved.

“We don’t know what happened,” Maia said. “They just said that (Diaz) is not fighting. We didn’t talk with anyone in his camp; we just talked with the guys at Metamoris, and they just said not now. I don’t know the reasons, but if I had the opportunity, it would be good – if it fits with my schedule, my UFC schedule, which for me is the most important thing.”

Maia, who’s won four straight, recently called for the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit at UFC 195, which Lawler won in a bloody split decision. But he also told MMAjunkie he will accept another bout if the UFC goes another direction. Already the promotion has promised a title shot to Tyron Woodley, whose bout with former champ Johny Hendricks in October at UFC 192 was scratched when Hendricks was not medically cleared.

“I want to fight with somebody who takes me to the title if I win,” he said. “I think that makes more sense would be Woodley, or Matt Brown; he’s tied with me near the rankings, and Woodley also. That’s the fights that would make more sense, but if I can choose today, I would say I want to fight for the title.”

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