Promoted to the front page from the FanPosts by Chris Nelson.

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu phenom Demian Maia has has announced on his official website that he will be facing fellow top-ranked middleweight Nate "The Great" Marquardt in a match-up that many fans were hoping for and expecting, at UFC 102, scheduled for August 29th in Portland, OR.

*****Confirmed the next opponent for Demian Maia, unbeaten in 11 fights in MMA - UFC 102 - August 29 Portland, OREGON: Demian Maia vs Nate Marquardt*****

Maia (10-0, 5-0 UFC), already world-renowned for his grappling prowess, took the UFC middleweight division by storm, using his unparalleled ground skills to submit five consecutive opponents, with Chael Sonnen being the most recent victim back in February at UFC 95. Training with Wanderlei Silva and the rest of the Wand Fight Team, Maia has been working his striking diligently as well.  Rumors appeared earlier in the spring that Maia would be getting the next shot at Anderson Silva's title after Thales Leites, although some have argued that Maia has not faced top-level competition in the middleweight division.

After the debacle surrounding Silva's performance against another highly skilled grappler in Leites, it seemed obvious that the UFC would be hesitant to match their champion with another pure jiu-jitsu specialist, and so now Maia finds himself with perhaps the most difficult test of his career.

Since falling short in his title shot against Anderson Silva back in July of 2007, Nate Marquardt (28-8-2, 7-2 UFC) has quickly risen back to top contender status, with dominant wins over Jeremy Horn, Martin Kampmann, and Wilson Gouveia, and a controversial split decision loss to Thales Leites since the Silva fight.  Marquardt lobbied for a match with Maia following the Gouveia victory, and many believe that, much like Kenny Florian, Nate has evolved and improved significantly enough since his first crack at The Spider, that a rematch may play out very differently.

Posessing one of the most well-rounded arsenals in MMA today thanks to his association with Greg Jackson, Marquardt combines excellent wrestling, a tremendously-effective and diverse striking game, and a black-belt in BJJ in a package that is difficult for any opponent to deal with.  Although Nate hasn't faced anyone in the UFC with Maia's level of BJJ (although Leites is a very skilled grappler, and he was easily handled by Marquardt), he has only been submitted twice in his nearly 40-fight career, and the most recent of those (against Ricardo Almeida) was over five years ago.

It seems clear that the winner of this fight is being set up to get the next shot at Anderson Silva, but Dana White has previously stated that the winner of Dan Henderson-Michael Bisping at UFC 100 will also get a shot the 185 lb crown.  It remains to be seen if either Marquardt or Maia will simply have to wait their turn, or if they will perhaps fight the winner of Hendo-Bisping to determine a clear-cut #1 contender.