Demian Maia is simply outclassed here. His one technical advantage would be his jiu-jitsu on the ground, but, as much as he tries, he can’t manage to get Anderson Silva down. That should mean another quick KO for the champion and the fight looks like it’s going that way for the first couple of rounds as Silva entertains the crowd with his “confidence-crushing clowning”, but he stops mid-bout.

With that, the fourth round becomes a dance-off as the two fighters move around The Octagon basically doing a lot of nothing. Round 5 isn’t much better, though a one-eyed Maia does commit to an early flurry of strikes near the beginning. The crowd, the commentators, the ref and even Silva himself seem to blame Silva for the weird and lackluster bout, but I’d also put some of that blame on his opponent.

my rating : 2 of 5

2010