UFC Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
Odds: ( -105 Maia / -125 Munoz )
Betting Pick: Munoz
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In the second bout of the evening, Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia faces a very stiff challenge in heavy-handed wrestler Mark Munoz. Maia is one of the most superlative grapplers in the sport, and his jiu-jitsu is good enough to compensate for his one-dimensional offense, but Munoz is a tough matchup for him because he has very good striking with a lot of power and is difficult to get to the ground. Stylistically, this is one of the most interesting matchups of the night and it should make for a very interesting fight.
Demian Maia’s jiu-jitsu skills cannot possibly be overstated. From every position on the ground, he is a constant threat to submit anyone in the world. His boxing is improving steadily, and he actually has pretty good punching technique, but he lacks power and his defense on the feet is porous. More troubling is that his wrestling is just not up to snuff, which is a big problem for a guy who depends solely on his ground game to get wins. Against Munoz, that is going to be an even bigger problem than usual, because Munoz is a bigger, stronger guy with extremely good wrestling. Still, even if he has to resort to pulling guard, if Maia can get this fight to the ground he immediately becomes a big favorite.
Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz is an extremely dangerous fighter with a great offensive skill set. He is a very big and strong guy with a lot of wrestling skill and very solid, heavy-handed boxing. On the feet he is extremely effective, both in terms of being able to dole out punishment with his hands and neutralizing their clinch work. His takedowns are also very effective and he can put a hurting on his opponents from top position, but against Maia trying to take this fight to the ground would be a colossal mistake. Munoz has a distinct advantage on the feet, and if he uses his wrestling defensively to keep Maia from being able to work for submissions and tries to box him around on his feet, he will be in a great position to win this fight.
I think Munoz has to be considered the favorite here. Maia is better at jiu-jitsu than Munoz is at anything, but this is a bad style matchup for him. He is going to have a lot of trouble getting Munoz to the ground, both because Munoz is the vastly superior wrestler and because Maia’s takedown attempts are going to be hampered by Munoz’s bruising boxing. I think Munoz is going to be able to keep Maia at bay and thwart his takedown attempts, and Maia is not going to be able to hold up in the face of Munoz’s boxing. Munoz by T/KO.
Prediction: Mark Munoz via second round T/KO.
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