After losing a five-round war to middleweight champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva, Demian Maia is ready to set his sights on another title shot. Maia is set to face Kendall “Da Spider” Grove at The Ultimate Fighter Finale on December 4, 2010. A win over Grove is exactly what Maia needs to put himself back in title contention and show the UFC brass that he’s worthy of another shot at Silva.
Before all of that happens, Maia has to get through Grove, which will not be an easy task. Grove is a seasoned fighter with wins over notables such as Ed Herman and Goran Reljic. Grove also has an excellent submission game that may not put someone of Maia’s caliber in danger of being submitted, but it could somewhat nullify Maia’s offense. Another factor that Grove has in his favor is his height. At 6’6” he has extremely long limbs, making it harder for Maia to strike with him. His height also brings a different element into the Jiu-Jitsu game as well because he’s able to pull off submissions and submission defenses that shorter-limbed opponents cannot.
Regardless of what Grove has to offer, Maia is regarded by many as the best Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in all of MMA, if not the world. His ground game is second to none and he regularly makes black belts look like they are beginners. In addition to an excellent ground game, Maia has been constantly improving his striking and working on his wrestling so he can put opponents down on the canvas where he can work his Jiu-Jitsu game.
Both fighters have struggled in recent times with losses and need this win. Grove will attempt to keep things standing as long as he can despite his own Jiu-Jitsu abilities. Maia’s game plan never changes and he makes no secret about that in any of his fights—he wants to take things down to the ground and get the submission. Whichever fighter is better able to impose their game plan on the other will surely have their hand raised at the end of the night.
Photo Credit: Flavio Scorsato www.flaviophotography.com/blog
Tags: Demian Maia, Jiu-Jitsu, Middleweight, UFC
