Opportunity Knocks

When it became known last week that Vitor Belfort had been forced to withdraw from his title fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 112 due to a shoulder injury, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking, “not again”. After all, 2009 ended with a rash of injuries to many of the UFC’s top fighters, and fans were looking forward to several events (including UFC 112) that feature many of the fighters we haven’t seen in action since mid-2009.

Sure, Silva himself wasn’t hurt, but who in the world was going to step up to face him in a five-round bout with just an eight-week training camp? Surely Chael Sonnen, who was given a medical suspension of 30 days due to a cut sustained in his fight against Nate Marquardt, wouldn’t be ready in time. However, in mixed martial arts it is usually the case that there will be someone who will step up and take a great opportunity on short notice, even if doing so involves facing the most dangerous striker in the sport.

And thus, we now have a UFC Middleweight Title bout between Anderson Silva and grappler extraordinaire Demian Maia. Maia was reportedly very excited to get the opportunity and had no second thoughts about taking the fight, even with a shorter camp than usual due to the close proximity of the fight. Meanwhile, Silva himself has said that he finds it to be a good matchup, likening it to the “striker vs. grappler” matchups of the old UFC days. (Note to Silva: in those matchups, the “striker” never had a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt)

It’s a funny turn of events for Maia. Not too long ago, he was facing Marquardt for what looked to be an opportunity to face Silva, and things couldn’t have gone much worse. Maia was memorably laid out in seconds by Marquardt in one of the year’s most scintillating knockouts, and promptly removed from the title discussion. More recently, a hard fought decision win over Dan Miller did little to restore the hype train that had been nearly out of control when Maia was submitting middleweights left and right with ease.

Now, one bad shoulder and a few phone calls later, Maia has leapfrogged Marquardt and Chael Sonnen to get a shot at the champ after all. It’s quite a turn of events in a sport that is full of them, and it’s a sign that- so far, anyway- the UFC has been able to side-step the risk of losing a bout featuring one of their most exciting fighters.

Of course, other questions persist, most notable of which may be: “is this smart for Maia?” While it is hard to give any human being between 171 and 185 pounds much of a chance in a fenced-in area against the likes of Anderson Silva, I believe that this is a great move for Maia. It’s not as if his career will be ruined if this fight goes the way that many will expect it to…there is no real harm in losing to the world’s best fighter.

Think, though, of the rewards if things do go Maia’s way. If he could somehow find his way to the mat with Silva and work his magic. Sure, Silva’s a black belt, but even Travis Lutter, who eventually succumbed to a triangle choke in his bout with Silva, was able to briefly mount the seemingly unbeatable fighter. Imagine with Maia could do with such a position.

Again, I’m not going to try to mount an argument that Maia has any more of a chance than the many fighters who have already tried before him. However, I do believe that the risks are far outweighed by the rewards in this case. Maia has a bright future ahead of him. His striking, which he no doubt works continually to improve, will never equal Silva’s, so why not fight him now? There’s also the looming question of just how long Silva will continue to fight, as he said a few fights ago that he would retire at the end of his current UFC contract. This may be Maia’s only chance to defeat a true legend.

It may seem crazy to those of us watching to want to get into a locked cage with a man like Anderson Silva. For Demian Maia and so many other fighters, though, that’s what it’s all about.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, Dan Miller, Demian Maia, Nate Marquardt, UFC 112, Vitor Belfort