Demian Maia isn’t ruling out one last walk to the Octagon – or a high-profile grappling superfight – if the right offer lands on his table.
The 48-year-old Brazilian, who last fought in the UFC in June 2021 when he dropped a decision to Belal Muhammad, says he would still consider a return under specific conditions. "[The door] is closing, but I’d be lying if I said that, if the UFC came to me with an offer for a meaningful fight, in the right setting, I wouldn’t do it," Maia said.
"If it made sense and it was in a place like Rio de Janeiro or Las Vegas, where I’ve fought so many times and have so much history, I would definitely consider it," he added. Maia fought 33 times in the UFC, earning 22 wins, including 11 by submission.
Maia admits the way his UFC run ended still bothers him. "I do feel like I never got a proper farewell, you know?" he said, calling the Muhammad loss "a bit of an anticlimactic way" to close his career and noting he had wanted one more fight to retire.
Since that bout, Maia has stayed active in grappling, picking up wins over Alex Oliveira, Sang Wook Kim and Benson Henderson, while also working as a UFC color commentator on Paramount+ and coaching fighters such as Ian Machado Garry and Charles Oliveira at his jiu-jitsu gym in Sao Paulo.
Grappling offers, he says, come "all the time by pretty much every organization," but "We just haven’t signed anything yet because nothing has really made my eyes light up." A matchup with Nate or Nick Diaz – or Georges St-Pierre – is among the possibilities that do catch his attention.
