Born on 6th November 1977 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Demian Augusto Maia Baptista is a professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the welterweight division at the UFC. Maia is also known to be a world class grappler, and regarded as ‘one of the best ever to do it’. Presently, he is ranked #10 in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Maia started training in Judo at a very young age, and by the time he was a teenager, he trained in Karate and Kung Fu as well, following which he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by his cousin. Maia went on to receive a black belt in BJJ.
Maia made his professional MMA debut On 21 September 2001 against Raul Sosa at Tormenta en el Ring in Venezuela. Maia took home the win, beating Sosa via TKO in the first round.
Maia announced his arrival to the UFC in style, submitting Ryan Jensen via a rear naked choke in the first round on his debut fight.
Maia made his debut at welterweight against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 148 where Maia won the bout via TKO in the first round after landing a take-down and laying some vicious ground and pound on Kim.
Maia took on Chael Sonnen at UFC 95 in London, England on 21 February 2009. Maia forced Sonnen to tap out in the first round via a deadly triangle choke.
Maia came across the legendary Anderson Silva at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, UAE in a fight for the middleweight championship belt. In a closely contested encounter, which was at times criticized for being ‘boring’, Silva picked up the win via unanimous decision, managing to retain his title.
Maia went toe to toe against former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC on Fox 2 where Weidman beat Maia via unanimous decision. There was controversy surrounding this bout as it was initially scored as a split decision win for Weidman which was later changed to a unanimous decision, as clarified by Dana White, President of the UFC.
At UFC 170 Maia and Rory MacDonald went head to head in a back and forth encounter where Maia lost via unanimous decision.
Maia and Jorge Masvidal met each other at UFC 211 in 2017 where Maia managed to take Masvidal to the ground and punish him with relentless ground and pound, taking the win via split decision.
Maia was one a seven fight winning streak when he faced Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title at UFC 214. Maia ended up losing the bout via unanimous decision.
Maia lost to Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington via unanimous decision on 28th October, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 119.
Maia was put up against reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC Fight Night 129 on 19th May 2018 where he ended up succumbiong to defeat via unanimous decision.
Maia faced Askren at UFC Fight Night 162 on 26th October 2019 in Singapore. In a battle between the two grapplers, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Maia came out on top, submitting 'Funky' via a rear naked choke in the third round.
Below is the MMA and UFC professional record of Demian Maia:
Demian Maia is married to Renata, who works for a Brazilian Magazine.
As of 2019, the net worth of the mixed martial artist Demian Maia is estimated to be $840 thousand.
