Demian Maia

Demian Maia is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a welterweight. Maia was born on November 6, 1977 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and started his professional MMA career at just 19 years of age.

Maia began training Jiu Jitsu when he was 8-years-old and competed in numerous Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling tournaments throughout his teenage years. After developing an impressive grappling resume and becoming one of the most renowned submission grapplers around, Demian decided to try out for the UFC’s fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Although Demian did not win the competition, he quickly impressed everyone by submitting Ryan Stout with an armbar in only 23 seconds into their match.

Since then, Demian has gone on to have much success inside the octagon and become one of the most feared grapplers to ever set foot inside it. He holds notable victories over elite fighters such as Carlos Condit, Rick Story and Chael Sonnen; and throughout his illustrious career has earned Performance Of The Night bonuses five times due to his dominating performances against opponents like Jorge Masvidal or Neil Magny where he showcased both technical striking prowess combined with explosive take downs that cant be matched by many other fighters at Welterweight division today .

This combination allowed him to reach new heights inside UFC after winning six consecutive fights from 2014 – 2017 which granted him a title shot against Tyron Woodley at UFC 214 held on July 29th 2017 where he lost via unanimous decision after 5 rounds lasting almost 25 minutes total time inside Octagon proving how durable is Maia despite being 40-year old athlete proving that age is nothing but number when we talk about true dedication towards sport .

Outside of competing professionally within MMA world , Demian also runs own BJJ academy located in Sao Paulo were he teaches children , adults & families alike while still performing twice weekly training sessions dedicated towards personal development as well as upcoming bouts preparation . Being able to perfectly balance teaching others while continuing own professional career provides valuable role model for future generations showing them what can be achieved through hard work no matter your age or background .