17.01.2008 Demian back at UFC 83Adversary will be Ed Herman
One of the standouts in the UFC middleweight category, Demian Maia, who in his debut for the organization, in October, submitted Ryan Jensen while still in the first round, will return to the octagon shortly.
The Jiu-Jitsu black belt, undefeated in six fights as a professional in MMA, will be back on March 8th at UFC 83, against Team Quest fighter Ed Herman (14w and 5l), who is coming off three wins in a row in the event, with two by submission and one by knockout. After vacationing in California, Demian is back in Sao Paulo and shot the breeze with GRACIEMAG.com.
“I got back to Sao Paulo today; I was vacationing in California with my wife, where I also shot some Jiu-Jitsu dvds. I’ll be back at the UFC on March 8th to fight Ed Herman, who I don’t know, but my manager brought me a tape with some of his fights to analyze, but I haven’t had time to watch yet.”
On preparing for his next commitment, the black belt said: “At this moment I’m with my physical trainer putting together a training spreadsheet, since I’ll start today and starting next week training is going to be heavy, as I only have seven weeks till the fight. I’m going to put greater importance on the standup part, I don’t know if I’ll be able to practice Jiu-Jitsu the way I would like, but I will never neglect it, because that’s what resolves my fights for me.”
As in the interview with Ricardo Cachorrao yesterday, GRACIEMAG.com asked Demian to analyze his category, which is ever more hotly disputed.
“I’m thankful to Cachorrao for having mentioned me, I’ve watched the guy fight since I was a kid and he’s tough. There’s also Thales (Leites) who’s good, and Anderson Silva, who’s the best. I think Henderson, even though he is very tough and dangerous, won’t be able to do anything against him.”
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