Brazilian jiu-jitsu stud, Demian Maia (7-0), will look for his third straight “Submission of the Night” when he takes on Jason MacDonald (20-9) in a middleweight bout at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., on August 9.
MMAmania.com exclusively learned about the bout in the past few days.
Maia — a highly decorated jiu-jitsu champion and 2007 Abu Dhabi tournament winner — has looked to be on another planet in terms of talent when his fights have hit the mat. In fact, he has nabbed the best submission honors in his two (and only) fights inside the Octagon, including a ridiculous choke and simultaneous face smashing of Ed Herman at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ on April 19.
He’s no joke.
MacDonald is also coming off a win at UFC 83, taking out Joe Doerksen with a third round technical knockout. He has won two of his last four fights within the eight-sided cage and will certainly need a win here to prove that he belongs in the UFCs 185-pound division.
“The Athlete” has built somewhat of a reputation as a submission specialist, which is certainly his strength in most of his bouts. However, it will be super interesting to see what kind of strategy he employs when it comes to Maia — his jiu-jitsu is good, but not that good when compared to the Brazilian’s.
UFC 87 features the heavyweight clash between Brock Lesnar and Mark Coleman, as well as a yet to be announced main event. Lightweights Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta are also booked to duke it out for 155-pound number one contender supremacy.
48 Comments »
I like this Match-up, Maia gets the sub in the first.
Does Dana White love MacDonald or what? I swear he gets more fights thrown his way than anyone in the UFC. Personally, I’m tired of watching him fight. Its obvious he must not be making too much money.
Maybe cause the guy has gone 4-2 in the UFC, and has only lost to the #2 and #3 guys in the division, and all 4 fights he has won in the UFC were finished within 2 rounds. Plus he is a step-up in competition for Maia, who could very well become a contender in the MW division, so a test like MacDonald was needed.
Its obvious Dana must like fighters that perform on the big stage when called upon, or yeah maybe its the money…..
MacDonald by GNP 2nd Round
Yet to be announced main event? Really?
Presumed Lesnar-Coleman was going to be the main event. Would certainly be a pretty stacked card if a main event was added on top of the bouts already scheduled.
I hope they have “co-main events” and they just don’t have the other yet. Please be the case!
Maybe they will add Henderson vs Franklin, I hope
“as well as a yet to be announced main event. ”
REALLY? That is the first I heard of that. If its true, that is GREAT news. Lesnar/Coleman is a joke of a main event and I’ve already said what I wanted to say in regards to that in several threads.
But tickets for this event are going on sale this weekend. The UFC usually has the main event in place before putting the tickets on sale.
The UFC should just book Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami for this event to just get that fight out of the way already.
It says it right here:
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail.FightCard&eid=1415
It was on the main page of the UFC site yesterday and I’m sure you can scroll down and see it again, but it did say that Lesnar vs Coleman was the feature fight.
“yet to be announced main event.”
That is great news. Everyone was getting all worked up about Brock being the main event, myself included. The UFC is about belts and every PPV card should have a title fight or at least be stacked like 85. The crazy thing is I would have bought Brock as the main event just because I can’t stand to miss a single event.
That is excellent news Mania. I was one of the people on here yesterday ranting about what a joke Lesner vs. Coleman would be as a main event…This is great news. I also really like the fight between Maia vs. “The talented Fairy” McDonald. Add one of these main events and it will be a solid card:
Fanklin vs. Henderson
Okami vs. Silva
GSP vs. Fitch
Great News…Thanks for the heads up Mania!
here! here! one of these match-ups will surely be added
I have got to agree, one of these matches looks certain to be added. If it isnt then I cant see a main event match even worth being mentioned as a main event.
John; Any one of those 3 fights would do…I have wanted to see Hendo/Franklin for a long time now,But I’d rather see a title fight as the “main event”..
IMO- the UFC has 5 champions, and they hold a UFC ppv event once a month, so I think there should always be a title fight on every card…
They should save the Hendo/Frank fight for a co-main event, on another card…But I definetly would be happy to have Hendo/Frank main event over what you call a “summerslam” match-up between Lesnar/Coleman..lol(good one john)..
Thanks.
Stager lee: I too have been waiting for years to see Hendo vs. Franklin. Luckily this fight is on the UFC’s mind as well since it was offered to Franklin for UFC 85 (He declined, needing more time to train). I do feel that this will be the next fight booked for Franklin, the only question is when will it take place.
Stager, I love your idea about having a title defended at everysingle UFC event. With the exception being the couple of times a year when they hold like 3 events in 2 months.
Still, as long as one of the matches I mentioned above are added to this card, I will be happy because its a solid card, all it lacks is a true HEADLINER!
i hope they add hendo vs franklin il put money on hendo winning
This a great match up. Maia should win hopefully, i like him. And Franklin Vs. Hendo would be a great main event. But id settle for Silva Vs. Okami aswell. Either will do.
What it boils down to is how Maia is going to handle JMac’s standup and how hard it’d be to take him down. Still picking Maia cuz that Ed Herman choke scarred my brain.
Yeah I have to go with Maia as well
that Herman choke was awesome..Maia is one bad dude, that submission, while smashing Ed’s face was nasty!
I got Maia in this fight with JMac aswell..I do agree though’ I wonder how Maia will deal with Jmac’s takedown defence, and standing in general?.JMac seem’s to be the stronger of the two, But Macdonald and Herman are simular in size, so I think Maia will do alright…
i wouldnt say herman and macdonald are similar is size, mac is way bigger, he used to be a light heavyweight up here in canada, and champ in a smaller show…
ay theres a Maia interview on sh-rdog that I think everybody will like. He has high fightIQ and crazy in a way when he said:
“I wanted him hitting me, but not to get hurt. This was because I needed to make him open gaps for my submission or for his mistakes.”
Go to his profile on sh-rdog and then click interview.
The Athlete submitted Ed “PeeWee” Herman with a triangle, but Maia submitted Herman with a fancier triangle while pounding on his face at the same time. For that reason and that reason alone I have to go with Maia.
are you kidding me? macdonald was going for a kimura while he had the triangle against herman , and he was elbowing him in the face, what fight were you watchig i think mac looked more slick, maia actually lost his first triangle against ed. mac didnt lose his.
That fight was a while ago, so I may have misremembered the facts (sorry Mr. Clemens). But that changes things. Two simultaneous subs on Herman vs. a sub and a GnP. Nonetheless, I still think McDonald’s best chance is to keep it standing.
Awesome! This makes the event so much better! lol Demian Maia is quickly becoming one of my favorite fighters. I mean, the jits matches I saw of him on youtube, and then his destruction of Herman. I’m sure he’ll work hard on his stand-up leading up to this fight, but I’m sure it will eventually hit the mat, and Maia will get some kind of sub.
J Mac is great but I gotta go with Maia in this ground battle. It will be interesting to watch two guys fight for bottom position.
This is going to be a good fight. Very curious how Jason is going to handle Maia. I would assume that he’ll stand up, stuff the take downs and scramble out when Maia tries to pull guard.
I love the jiu-jitsu match-ups. Maia’s beatdown of Herman was crazy. I think he wins early and pretty easily. How about Maia vs. Almeida (assuming they both win their next fights)?
Thats the fight I would love to see, although I think that their BJJ would be negated because of each mans expertise. Id rather see them fight in Abu Dhabi in a BJJ match rather than an MMA bout. Almeida all the way
Okami was injured after the Evan Tanner fight, I’m not sure if he’d make it.
Did he bruise his knee on Tanner’s head?
i hope the ufc isn’t trying to get rid of JMac. if he doesn’t come out on top with a win the ufc should keep him any way seeing how his fight are always enjoyable.
Maia is on a different level on the ground. He should submit MacDonald pretty early.
omg MacDonald will have the standup advantage.
i like macdonald in this fight, i dont see him getting caught, and if he does he probably wont tap like he didnt against doerkson. if it goes past rd 2 mac will have the cardio advantage as well…his submission against leben is a classic.
i agree j mac is much stronger and is very hard to sub him with his long lanky body.just ask joe dorksen.
Hey in the post it says that MacDonald finished Doerksen in the third round but that was their first fight he actually beat him in the second round in their second fight
Cant argue that Maia’s BJJ is awsome, but translated to MMA, not so sure its top of the line as advertised, Ed herman looked like he was beatin on him until that sub.
It was like Perregrino and Nate.
Maia via flying gogoplata.
LOLOL
great fight……….How do you get a membership with sherdog????????????????/
If they add a main event calaber fight to this card it will be a must buy. As for this fight, I love it! A great style matchup. I have to go with Maia, but if it stays on the feet McDonald has power. Close fight, great fight, gonna have to pick Maia.
Maia
Hopefully maia is gonna put a clinic on macdonald. They’re really grooming him. First a nobody, then a TUFer now the guy that’s been killin a few TUFers. If he gets past him, i think they might put him up one of many high level contenders.
Come on! I love the fighters but can’t stand the UFC! There is no one for Silva or GSP in the UFC to fight that would be worth paying for. Of course I will pay anyway which is why Dana White can be such a DICK! Carlos Condit vs GSP and Cung Le vs Silva I believe both GSP and Silva would win, but Condit & Le are the only guys out there that have a shot. Lesner, Coleman is a farce! White just wants Lesner to win I would bet Lesners next 4 or 5 fights will also be jokes. The UFC has great fighters but lets not forget three of the five belts are held by Pride Vets! Which is probably why White will never let his fighters fight outside the UFC!
the battle of the bums.