June 12, 2020

Last week, I had the pleasure of talking to a UFC great in Demian Maia. We discussed everything MMA related, what he’s up to right now and what the future holds for him. At what age did you start getting into MMA? “My first MMA fight, I was 18 years old.” Demian made his professional MMA debut in 2001 where he beat Raul Sosa. He signed with the UFC in 2007 where he’d make his debut at UFC 77. Have you ever had to make many sacrifices to reach the pinnacle of the sport? “To be an athlete, of course, you do sacrifices. I did many, I was struggling a lot, in the beginning of my career but that’s good because that gives you strength when you need because the MMA career, any athletes career will be a struggle, even if you get to the pinnacle and you’re successful you’re still struggling every day in training. There’s nothing the comfort zone if you start to get in the comfort zone then it’s time to stop because you don’t looking for the challenge anymore and you’re not going to evolve. That’s something I will bring to my life.” You’ve fought at the top for such a long time, what does it take to become a successful fighter? “To be a successful fighter is great, but it’s very tough also. When I was a kid, I remember, my dream was to travel, and to fight around, the world and there was not even a possibility, there was nothing, in such a profession like that. And now I do what I like, I travel around the world, I fight, I give seminars, but what I didn’t realise is that when I was thinking, you know when I was a kid, that when I reach this point would be really enjoyable but then I realised when you reach this point it’s more demanding, so it’s cool, but you’ve got to pay the price, and you pay the price every day to do what you like and to do what your love and to be at your best.” “I think, not just sacrifice, but the most important is consistence. Some people will be able to sacrifice, for a while, but not for many years and I been in MMA, involved in MMA, for more than 30 years. You know, doing sacrifice every day, I think if you do that, then you’re going to be successful.” Maia has fought at the top of the sport for such a long time. He holds wins over the likes of; Jorge Masvidal, Ben Askren, Carlos Condit, Chael Sonnen, Neil Magny and Gunnar Nelson. You made your UFC debut in 2007, how much has the UFC grown since then? “Since I started UFC, you know the UFC became totally a different organisation, much bigger and I remember when I just got in, in 2007, you know it was much smaller, everybody knew each other, and the process was much more simple. I was inside all these years, and I saw how it grow so much, how much more professional it became. I remember, in 2008, when Dana called me, and I was UFC, and I had like three fights or four fights, he called me to ask me to change my song because he said I need a song more exciting, to do the walkout song. I think it’s something he would never do today.” Can the UFC surpass Boxing? “I think the UFC is already much more popular than boxing. Boxing, of course, has a long history and it’s big, and for the top fighters they pay more just because of the way the organisation is, like everybody has their own promoter, so it’s like as a UFC fighter, our only promoter is the UFC, but it’s just the way the business it is, that’s why the make that much money, those very, very top fighters. But I think in terms of popularity, people watch much more MMA than boxing.” If you were in a fight camp right now, what would be your daily routine, training-wise? “My fight camp is normally twice, two trainings a day. I train grappling, like Jiu-Jitsu, and wrestling, mixed to MMA, every day and striking training like four times a week. I always like mixing in the striking with the grappling and twice I do weights.” Donald Cerrone holds the most wins in UFC history, with 23, and you’re on 22, do you think you’ll beat that record? “That’s the thing I hope to do, like to be the guy with most wins in the UFC. That’s, one goal, that you know, makes me keep fighting.” Demian is 42 now but believes he still has time to beat Donald’s record. How has Covid-19 impacted your training? “Covid-19 impact everybody here, because all the gyms are closed in Brazil and they will start reopening, I think, soon. What I’m doing is like I have some weights in my home and I have some punching bags, I’m doing that. I have a friend, a black belt, who is coming to my house, he is with his wife inside his house, he’s coming to my house, for the last couple weeks, to train with me, jiu-jitsu. I have some mats here, but that’s it, it’s not perfect, but I’m trying to keep in shape.” Are you currently training? If so, how hard are you training? “I’m not training really hard, but I’m training. I think it’s like middle intensity, it’s not really hard, but it’s not soft. So, I’m keeping in shape.” When can we expect to see you in the cage again? “Let’s see, when the UFC call me, I just worry about the training here. I have some friends, they have fights coming up, and they’re training, so if I need, I can do that. I just training and waiting.” The names Donald Cerrone, Diego Sanchez and Anderson Silva have all been mentioned recently,