So is Demian Maia in For Some “Dirty Sanchez Wrestling”?

As this is being written, nothing is signed yet, but it looks like we could see Demian Maia and Diego Sanchez battle in the not too distant future. Sounds like a plan right?

Following Sanchez’s memorable, stoppage win over Mickey Gall at UFC 235 earlier this month, he mentioned Maia as someone he’d like to fight next. Well, not surprisingly, the galaxy class grappler was asked to comment on Sanchez’s proposal, and Maia had this to say (quote via MMA Fighting):

”I have a lot of respect for Diego, he is a warrior, and like I said on my Twitter, you can never underestimate experience,” Maia said. “I really thought it was nice to see him go against the odds and get the win. It’s not easy to be competing at a high level for so long, it’s a tough game, and he deserves a lot of recognition. So, I would be honored to compete against him, after all the history we both have in the sport. Why not?”

”…Fights are fights. It’s a cliche, but it’s true, you can never know how they’ll go down for sure until you do it,” Maia said. “Diego has a very good ground game, often underrated, is experienced, tough, has a lot of heart and has a great pace. I wouldn’t underestimate him at all, and I think it would be fun, with a lot of interesting scrambles. He is an offensive fighter, so he wouldn’t just try to avoid grappling at any costs, so it would be fun to watch, for sure.”

Well, clearly this got back to Sanchez, as recently the rugged vet posted this on Instagram:

Looks like we have a hell of a fun fight! I promise to put a non stop pace that will l finish the Brazilian legend with some dirty sanchez wrestling! #threefingersdeep #nightmaresarereal #iamtheone

So, we’ll see what happens here, but you would think the UFC will take a serious look at booking this match-up. Maia and Sanchez have been with the UFC for years, and it would be really interesting to see whether the latter can put his ground-and-pound game to work. Or, for that matter, if Maia can become the first man in Sanchez’s lengthy career to submit him.

Maia, meanwhile, is coming off a submission win over Lyman Good, after incurring consecutive losses to top-tier welterweights in Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley.