Demian Maia has made a career out of squeezing people's necks in a cage to earn two ******* le shots in the UFC, and now uses all that knowledge and skill in a new role as MMA coach. After being part of Charles Oliveira's camp for a one-sided victory over Max Holloway earlier this year, it's time for Ian Machado Garry to shock the world against welterweight champion Islam Makhachev.
Garry challenges Makhachev in the main event of UFC 330, which goes down Saturday night in Philadelphia, and attempt to snap what would be a record-breaking 17th straight UFC victory. For Maia, it's a fascinating "puzzle at an extremely high level of fighting."
"You have a guy with elite wrestling — and why not say a level of jiu-jitsu mixed in with the wrestling of Sambo, at an exceptional level —, along with a champion's mindset," Maia told MMA Fighting. "He's going to fight another guy who also has tremendous tactical intelligence, a very high level of striking, exceptional distance control, and increasingly better jiu-jitsu."
Garry earned his shot by beating Carlos Prates and ex-champion Bella Muhammad in back-to-back fights, losing only once as a profession in a short-notice clash with Shavkat Rakhmonov. The welterweight Irishman has a long reach and height advantage over the champion, and Maia sees that as a potential key to victory.
"I think it's a very open fight," Maia said. "I think Ian has the size advantage. He's bigger and — and this is kind of obvious to say — the advantage in the striking. I think he has an advantage because that's his area. He's very technical, but he has distance control that very few guys have. We saw that in the Carlos Prates fight and in the MVP fight, which is an extremely difficult matchup, and in the fight with Belal, a former champion.
#advantage #makhachev
Garry challenges Makhachev in the main event of UFC 330, which goes down Saturday night in Philadelphia, and attempt to snap what would be a record-breaking 17th straight UFC victory. For Maia, it's a fascinating "puzzle at an extremely high level of fighting."
"You have a guy with elite wrestling — and why not say a level of jiu-jitsu mixed in with the wrestling of Sambo, at an exceptional level —, along with a champion's mindset," Maia told MMA Fighting. "He's going to fight another guy who also has tremendous tactical intelligence, a very high level of striking, exceptional distance control, and increasingly better jiu-jitsu."
Garry earned his shot by beating Carlos Prates and ex-champion Bella Muhammad in back-to-back fights, losing only once as a profession in a short-notice clash with Shavkat Rakhmonov. The welterweight Irishman has a long reach and height advantage over the champion, and Maia sees that as a potential key to victory.
"I think it's a very open fight," Maia said. "I think Ian has the size advantage. He's bigger and — and this is kind of obvious to say — the advantage in the striking. I think he has an advantage because that's his area. He's very technical, but he has distance control that very few guys have. We saw that in the Carlos Prates fight and in the MVP fight, which is an extremely difficult matchup, and in the fight with Belal, a former champion.
#advantage #makhachev
2 days ago
