Near title shot, Demian Maia following UFC boss Dana White's advice to 'take more risks'

Submission victories have become an increasingly difficult fight outcome for grappling ace Demian Maia in recent years. But in order to get his desired title shot, the UFC welterweight knows he must put people away.

That’s exactly what Maia (22-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC), No. 8 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, plans to do to No. 7-ranked Matt Brown (20-13 MMA, 13-8 UFC) when they collide on May 14 at UFC Fight Night 88 in Brazil.

UFC President Dana White encouraged the Brazilian to put himself out there a little more in his fights, Maia said, and he took that advice to heart. Although he didn’t finish Gunnar Nelson in his last fight at UFC 194 in December, he managed to put Neil Magny away with a second-round choke at UFC 190 in August for his first submission win in nearly three years.

Maia has been a force on the ground since he entered the UFC in 2007 and recorded five consecutive submission wins. As his career went on, though, Maia said his focus drifted away from stopping opponents and was more about fighting smart in order to secure a victory.

That’s until he had a conversation with White.

“I’ve started to fight tough, tough fighters and it’s hard to submit them, of course, but at the same time I was being more conservative and taking more care about losing positions,” Maia told MMAjunkie. “I was more about winning, but I remember talking to Dana White after a press conference and he said, ‘You’re doing great jiu-jitsu, you have great control, but you can take more risks. You have the jiu-jitsu to take more risks. We’re not asking you to do striking and standup. You can do your jiu-jitsu and a lot of people want to see that, but if you take more risks when you get the mount of the back, (it) would be great.’

“After that, I fought in Rio against Neil Magny and I took more risks, and because that was in my mind, it was good. It’s hard because you want to win so bad that you don’t wan to make mistakes, but I took risk and I was able to submit him in that fight. I’m taking more risks in my jiu-jitsu game.”

If there’s a fight in which Maia would appear to have a good chance of locking up a submission win, it’s his next one against Brown. “The Immortal” has suffered nine of his 13 career losses by submission and has shown flaws on the ground in other fights, such as a loss to former UFC champ Johny Hendricks at UFC 185 this past March.

Brown’s record may show a lot of submission losses, but it would require going back to UFC 139 in November 2011 to find the last time he was stopped in that fashion. Maia said Brown has made strides on the ground, he’s just not sure if it’s enough to thwart his lifetime of jiu-jitsu experience.

“Early in his career he had a lot of losses by submission, but after that the last five years he no lose by submission,” Maia said. “He learned something, he’s different and has a much better defense. I don’t think he will be a guy who will be easy to submit just because he was submitted five years ago. He’s a different fighter.

“He learned from that mistake and that’s why I’m not like, ‘He’s lost by submission so I’m going to do the same.’ Of course I want to submit him, but it doesn’t mean it will be easier because his record in recent years shows no submissions.”

A victory over Brown would give Maia a five-fight winning streak and eight victories in 10 fights since he dropped to welterweight in July 2012. The only losses in that stretch came as the result of a split decision to Jake Shields, as well as another close decision loss to Rory MacDonald, who Maia had in compromising positions early in the fight.

Maia said beating Brown should validate his worthiness as a challenger to 170-pound champion Robbie Lawler. Several others are vying for that position, though, such as Tyron Woodley, Stephen Thompson and even recent title challenger Carlos Condit.

Although there are other contenders with a valid claim at a title fight, Maia said his resume would be more impressive than the others and therefor he should be rewarded with the next fight for UFC gold.

“Everybody knows my goal right now is to fight for the title – I want to have the chance to try to win that title again that I had six years ago (at middleweight),” Maia said. “My whole career at welterweight is to go for the title shot and I think now I am getting closer. I just wanted that fight that made sense for that. I know if I win that fight there’s a big chance I fight for the title and that’s what I’m looking for.

“I think if I win I should get the title shot next. I really believe I can be the champion. I don’t want to wait. I will be in my best shape, I will do my best and I will do the best fight ever against Matt Brown. If he wins, OK. But if I win, I want to fight for that title.”

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