Billington’s Breakdown: Maia vs. Shields

By Roy Billington

Tonight in the main event of UFC Fight Night 29, two of the UFC’s most gifted grapplers square off, as former top UFC middleweight contender Demian Maia faces former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields.This piece will break down both fighters, as well as where the fight will likely be won and lost.

Demian Maia

Maia, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, has long enamored fans with his exciting Jiu Jitsu-centric attacking style. The Brazilian began his MMA career fighting in Venezuela in 2001, but after this lone appearance in the cage he went back to his first love, jiu jitsu. In 2002, Demian Maia became a Brazilian jiu jitsu world champion in the black division at Meio Pesado and Absolute, and in 2003 he retained his Absolute championship.

As far as competitive grappling goes, there is no higher accomplishment than to become the Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion, and Maia reached this colossal landmark in 2007 in Trenton, New Jersey, as Demian Maia defeated Yushin Okami, Rafael Lovato and Flavio Almeida to become the premier grappler in the world.

The mixed martial arts career of Maia always played second fiddle while the embers of interest in grappling still burned, but after ADCC 2007 Maia focused fully on fistic combat, and later that year he debuted in the UFC. Prior to his UFC debut, Maia amassed a respectable 7-0 professional record with 6 finishes, but the calibre of opponent was always questionable, and this led to intrigue when the UFC pitted him against Ryan Jensen. Jensen was 11-2 and fighting out of Team Quest, so he was seen as a solid test for the debuting Maia, but Maia passed this test with flying colours. Within three minutes Maia showed just how good his BJJ was by securing a rear naked choke.

Next for Maia was a bout with tough wrestler and TUF competitor Ed Herman at UFC 83, and in that fight Maia showed just how good he was. Going into the fight Herman was on a three-fight winning streak and was viewed as the far more well-rounded fighter, whereas Maia was seen as the BJJ player who was talented but one-dimensional. After that fight the perspective on Maia changed when everyone witnessed how Maia dealt with Herman with ease before subbing him with a mounted triangle in the first.

2008 continued with Maia putting on a jiu jitsu clinic the likes of which we hadn’t previously seen in the UFC, first at UFC 87 Maia won his third consecutive submission of the night award by tapping out fellow black belt Jason MacDonald, then again at UFC 95, where Maia took down and tapped the then quiet and respectful Chael Sonnen, who following this loss reemerged as the brash “West Linn Gangster” we all know and tolerate today.

At UFC 102 Maia faced Nate “The Great” Marquardt and finally got exposed. Its always been the case in MMA that one-dimensional fighters always get caught eventually, and Maia certainly got caught. 20 seconds in, Marquardt caught Maia clean and rendered him unconscious.

Following his first professional loss, a new more conservative man emerged. Although he bounced back with a win and set up a fight with Anderson Silva (which he lost) he struggled to rediscover his finishing flair, and after going 3-2 in his next five fights, he decided to make the long-awaited move to welterweight. He debuted as a welterweight and showed renewed gusto, dismantling three opponents with ease to set up this fight with Shields. First he finished Dong Hyun Kim, then Rick Story, before dominating Jon Fitch over three rounds.

Skillswise, Maia’s standup is ever-improving but still lacking. His wrestling is underrated, but his jiu jitsu is nearly impossible to defend.

The Keys to Victory for Maia are to initiate the clinch and take down Shields in order to impose his will.

Jake Shields

Shields, a longtime member of the famed Cesar Gracie Academy, has been an athlete his entire life. First Shields was a wrestler, and even though he lived in rural mountain land in northern California, Shields’ father made sure that Shields and his siblings partook in wrestling, primarily the folk style.

Shields originally began training to be a fighter with Chuck Liddell and company at The Pit with John Hackleman’s before finding his home at the Cesar Gracie academy, and it was alongside the Diaz brothers and Gilbert Melendez that Shields honed his now famous fighting style.

Before Maia had ever even laced up a pair of boxing gloves Shields was a professional fighter. Shields started fighting full time in 1999, and since then has fought hard and often. In his first 16 fights he amassed a record of 11-4-1, but it wasn’t until after this early period that he really came into his own.

From 2004-2011, Shields won 15 straight, which included victories over the likes of Carlos Condit, Yushin Okami, Paul Daley, and Mike Pyle, but it wasn’t until his stint in Strikeforce that he became a household name, At Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers Shields faced Jason “Mayhem” Miller, and after a grueling five rounds, came out as the middleweight champion of Strikeforce. In his next bout he was a massive underdog as he faced former UFC star Dan Henderson, but on that night Shields upset oddsmakers, as he clearly beat the former UFC tournament winner.

At UFC 121 Shields debuted in the UFC with a split decision win against Martin Kampmann which earned him a fight with the champ, Georges St.Pierre. Unfortunately for Shields, he was dominated by St. Pierre, and since then has gone 2-1 with 1 No Contest, and is going into tonight’s fight with a lot to prove.

Skillswise, Shields is awkward on the feet and grinding on the ground. He should have the advantage in the striking department, so he could potentially look to keep this one standing.

The Verdict

This fight will be determined by the wrestling game. Whoever dictates where this fight will take place will be victorious, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Maia’s underrated wrestling will trump Shields’, and we can expect domination akin to what he imposed on Jon Fitch. My prediction is Demian Maia via unanimous decision.