It’s safe to say Demian Maia has made a successful transition from grappling sensation to mixed martial arts star.
In fact, he’s made it look way too easy.
As a submission grappler he accumulated a laundry list of accomplishments in jiu-jitsu, including seven state championships in Brazil, a Brazilian national championship, two world championships, three World Cup championships, a Pan American Championship, and a ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship for good measure.
In other words, he is one of the most accomplished submission grapplers on the planet. Perhaps Maia was too good, prompting him to pursue new challenges in the form of MMA a few years ago.
In 2005, he began his professional career and rattled off five consecutive victories. The UFC took notice, signing him to a fight contract just about 24 months later. And he hasn’t let up since.
Maia has been extremely impressive, winning five consecutive UFC fights all by way of submission (no surprise). In four of those fights he also won the “Submission of the Night” monetary award from the UFC management.
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Derek Bolender is a contributor to MMAmania.com and InsideFights.com. He is also syndicated to CBSSports.com and CNNSI.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/DerekMMAwriter and Facebook.com/Derek.Bolender.
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