UFC 102 Preview: Demian Maia and Nate Marquardt Talk About Their Upcoming Fight

Demian Maia (10-0) talked about his game plan on his upcoming fight with Nate Marquardt (28-8-2):

I feel that I need to take Marquardt into my game and submit him. That is my game plan. I know Nate is a tough guy to submit and he’s also got some good submissions of his own. Even though he has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I expect Marquardt to try and stand up with me. I would be surprised if he wanted to stay on the ground with me.

I am going to go into the fight, take Nate down, mount him and then finish him with a submission. That’s what I’m going to do. The best way to finish a fight.... I need to go there and fight the best fight of my life. It looks like this will be the toughest test of my mixed martial arts career so far... I expect him to be a very strong opponent... I think this fight could be a war.

He also talked about honing the other parts of his game in preparation for one of the most well rounded fighters in the division:

I see Nate Marquardt as someone who has no real weakness. He has a lot of strength, is very aggressive, his conditioning is good, his power is good, he has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has good stand-up and wrestling. He doesn’t have any clear weaknesses or bad points. He is basically the complete fighter. 

I train in striking a lot now - and do a lot of stand-up fights, like boxing and Muay-Thai - to try and improve my all-round game. I’m not in a rush to get my striking to a certain level, though. I don’t feel in a panic. I’m not the kind of guy who will train boxing and punching every day and do it non-stop. I train stand-up at least three or four times a week... This has been the best camp of my career so far, no doubt. I think fans will see the best version of me on August 29. I couldn’t feel better prepared right now.

Nate "The Great" Marquardt gives his take:

Maia is a great fighter and is undefeated. Anybody with his kind of credentials, both in MMA and pure jiu-jitsu competitions, needs to be respected. Overall, though, I feel that I’m the better fighter and see this fight coming down to who fights to their potential on the night. If I fight to my true potential on the night, I don’t see Maia beating me...

Demian’s undefeated, sure, but I don’t think that really means anything ahead of this fight. I don’t think Demian has ever fought anyone near my calibre before, and that may well be the reason he’s still unbeaten... Maia is somewhat one-dimensional in what he does. He does have some takedowns that he executes well... Maia also throws some hard punches in the stand-up, though I’m confident he’ll be too slow to catch me. However, his main danger is, of course, his jiu-jitsu and grappling skills

Aside from being well rounded, he thinks his experience will also be a key factor:

[Maia] is a great fighter, and definitely one of the best on the ground, but this fight on August 29 is not going to be just a ground fight. It’s not a jiu-jitsu tournament. This is mixed martial arts and a real fight. I see myself as the better and more rounded fighter. I just need to ensure I fight well on the night, not get caught in anything silly and then look for the finish. I believe I can finish him inside the distance.

Demian is still very inexperienced as a mixed martial artist. A lot of people don’t realize just how important it is to be well-rounded and adjustable when you move up in class. If you’re a one-dimensional fighter entering the top level of competition you’re only going to get caught out... I’ve been a mixed martial artist for a long time now and have trained in the sport longer than Maia and also competed in the sport professionally longer than he has. As a result, I’ve had more time to work on all my key elements – striking, wrestling and grappling – and have had more fights to showcase these elements. I think that could be very important on the night.

While most people are looking forward to see Couture take on Nogueira, this is the match up that interests me the most. You have one complete fighter who is very experienced and well rounded, taking on a relatively one-dimensional fighter. On paper, that looks like a mismatch in favor of the complete fighter, but with Maia, things are a little bit different. The one facet that he's good at is on a completely different level and it might just be enough to turn the tide.

Will Nate Marquardt's experience and well rounded game be enough to avoid submissions and win him the fight? Or will Maia's ground game be too much for him to handle? 

HT: UFC.com

UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira coverage