Demian against Anderson. Photo: Luca Atalla
What’s most on everyone’s tongues about UFC 112 is, without a doubt, Anderson Silva’s posture during his fight with Demian Maia. In the middleweight title bout, Anderson fooled around, hid behind the referee and taunted Maia. There are those who think nothing of such an attitude, who feel it was part of Silva’s strategy. But there are countless others who were disgusted by what they saw, including UFC president Dana White. GRACIEMAG.com spoke with one of the participants in the historic affair: Demian Maia. “I just thought it was disrespectful for him to swear at me during the fight, saying things like, ‘You (explicative) momma’s boy, show me your Jiu-Jitsu.’ That type of stuff. I felt it was disrespectful and unnecessary. Aside from that, it was a normal fight,” says Demian. Once the fight was over, as could be seen on the broadcast, Anderson went on to ask Demian’s forgiveness. He made a speech in the octagon and apologized to the crowd as well. But once at the press conference, he again criticized Maia. He said he felt disrespected by the Sao Paulo native in the lead up to the bout. “He begged my forgiveness and I feel everyone makes mistakes, that’s normal. I feel something influenced him afterwards and he came up with that statement about me having disrespected him. I never made any strong statements and, even if I had, it would have been to promote the fight, which is normal. The fight ends and the two fighters embrace,” he concludes.