Demian Maia delaying retirement, interested in Anderson Silva rematch

Demian Maia is delaying his retirement and says he has a few good fights left in him.

Following Maia’s first-round TKO loss to Gilbert Burns at UFC Brasilia he said he had one fight left and it would be against either Diego Sanchez or Donald Cerrone. Yet, he has now had a change of heart and says he will keep on fighting and is also interested in rematching Anderson Silva.

“Now it’s not or, now it’s and. Diego Sanchez and Cerrone [it] could be both. I came to think of a fight with Anderson, but there’s the weight thing,” Maia said to Combate (via google translate). “Would he accept doing a catchweight? Dana doesn’t like it, [so] is it worth it for me to climb to 185-pounds and fight with the size disadvantage? There are many other possibilities to think about.”

Although it seems like Maia is only interested in fighting at welterweight he says moving up to middleweight to fight Silva is not out of the question. But, he would rather a catchweight so he can perform his best.

“I would. But I would prefer to catch catchweight if it was possible,” he said.

For Demian Maia, he says the game plan would be simple and that would take Anderson Silva down and hold him there. Something he couldn’t do in the first fight.

Yet, Silva has shown good takedown defense, but a bigger worry for Maia is what Silva will show up that night.

“I hope I could grab him, which I didn’t get in the first fight, and put him down. That would be the plan, but I don’t know. It is very difficult to speak,” Maia explained. “It is very difficult to speak. How will he come? I believe it will not come as it did in 2010 because it is another Anderson. But, will it come well trained by the challenge of being a fight with me? Perhaps it will give an extra boost. It’s impossible to know.”

In the end, Maia believes it would be a good fight for both men, especially with how their first fight went.

“That fight ended up having bad repercussions for his image, he gave a blemish and I think he might try to change that,” he concluded.

Would you like to see Demian Maia vs. Anderson Silva 2?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/22/2020