Maia ready to take on Nate

Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Demian Maia is confident he will manage to beat Nate Marquardt at UFC 102 on Saturday.

Maia holds a 1-0 record in his MMA career, but he faces his biggest test to date in Marquardt.

Maia told The Sun: “Nate Marquardt 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 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 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.

“But 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.”

Tags: Demian Maia, UFC