Perhaps Demian Maia isn’t as one-dimensional as we thought.
Maia has long been known as one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu players currently active in mixed martial arts, but his striking game never passed the mustard. Never was that more evident than in Maia’s last bout against Nate Marquardt, when Marquardt sent Maia crashing face first into the mat.
Against Dan Miller, however, Maia showed a noticeably improved striking game, using deft head movement combined with crisp counterstriking and earning a unanimous decision victory. He’s not a world-class striker by any means, but few expected Maia to even be competitive with Miller if the fight stayed on the feet.