Demian Maia is easily the most talented representative of Brazilian jiu-jitsu in MMA. Thanks to his skill in Brazil’s soft art — where he holds a 4th degree black belt under the world-famous Fabio Gurgel — Maia has beaten some of the most talented fighters in the welterweight division.
Yet, despite his skills at using jiu-jitsu to take out some of the toughest mixed martial artists in the game, Maia admits that he has lost some of his “sharpness” in the art:
“When I started to strike a lot back in the day, you know, I lost a little bit of my jiu-jitsu,” Demian told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “It’s normal. It’s just normal, you know. You cannot do everything well. You lose a little bit. Some sharpness.”
But while he may have strayed a bit from the art that has allowed him to bully some of the toughest men to set foot in the octagon, Maia is determined to get back to his roots:
The crucial thing for us is during the training camp to come back to my roots, to come back to jiu-jitsu.
Demian Maia will be getting his second chance at UFC gold on July 29 when he takes on reigning Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 214.
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