First off yes Demian's standup was impressive in his fight against Munoz.
However it seems like some other talented BJJ blackbelts that have fought in the UFC he is beginning to fall into the "stand and bang" trap. I was a huge fan following his entry into the ufc when he went on a tear submitting five opponents in five fights - his ground game looked unstoppable.
However following his knockout by Marquardt he has gone to decision 5 times, and hasn't appeared to be going after a finish in any of those (we'll discount the silva loss where he simply couldn't get close enough to wrap him up, but tried).
It's great that he's working to develop other areas of his game, but as a fan it is strange to see him neglecting his best assets.
Agreed, I would have like to see more sub attempts from Maia. I like to see guys use their strengths to finish fights instead of falling into the trap of trying to prove they can do something as well.
That said, maybe it was his gameplan, because who would have thought he would be so dangerous standing up?
Well against Munoz he comfortably won the stand up, so why not stay there? 
I was kinda shocked by his stand up. I thought he did a great job. but I was expecting more of him on the ground. Shows how well Mark trained for Maia
go watch his fight with Mario Miranda
If only he would have repeatedly tried to double-leg the D1 All-American. That would have worked awesome.
Because tapping Mark Munoz is easy. He's probably a white belt with limited grappling and submission knowledge.
he was trying to finish miranda on the ground...
@ T-Ham Sonnen is also an excellent wrestler and Maia walked right through him.
dipsheet - I'll paraphrase Rogan during a recent undercard bout. The example was Chuck's strong wrestling background & his preference to fight standing. Since it's instinct to take an opponent out of his desired approach guys would try to take Chuck down. Lots would get caught on their way in (Randy 2xs) & the others wound up on the ground w/ an excellent wrestler. Chuck would therefore feel free to let his hands go knowing that the instinctive counter would, at worst, throw him in the briar patch.
Sorry if I mangled that, Joe.
Chuck also fought a run of wrestlers and BJJ fighters with not much standup during his reign of terror.
<blockquote>The fake Mike Robertson - Well against Munoz he comfortably won the stand up, so why not stay there</blockquote>
He won the stand-up in the first round, 2 & 3 were much less convincing.
Actually I would have scored rounds 2 and 3 a tie with a win for maia in the 1st. In my mind neither fighter looked substantially better than the other or did more damage in those last 2 rounds.
He was trying to take Munoz down, many times. He didn't set his shots up an was shooting from too far. I hope he comes back soon and is able to work his ground game next time.
i am betting that his next cycle of all natural supplements, such as acai and flaxseed oil will be timed better, his shoulders will be bigger and stronger ala overeem. expect thiago silva like aggression, and marquart like strenght, to go with chael like persistence.
Nothing bugs me more than guys who abandon what brought them to the show to stand and wang.
^^^LMAO!!!
"However following his knockout by Marquardt he has gone to decision 5 times, and hasn't appeared to be going after a finish in any of those"
He has done his best to go for subs in every fight, most of those guys have great defense or were able to escape back to their feet quickly -- the ones he could take down consistently at all.
He WAS trying to set up submissions. Munoz is very good at avoiding subs though. Look at the BJJ studs that he's trained with. He tends to explode out of bad positions and was extremely slippery (from sweat) on Saturday which helped him.
Although he did throw up a couple of submission attempts from the guard, he didn't seem to me like he was actively hunting for it like he had when he first got to the UFC.
Like a poster said above, he seems to have abandoned what got him "to the big show" in favor of his new stand up skills. I'm afraid maybe he's trying to fight to "please the fans" instead of using his skills to go for the sub ala Gurgel.
I want to note that I'm not just talking about the Munoz fight here. His bout with Grove for example was basically a kickboxing match.
ttt
Maia made some bad decisions in the fight against Munoz. He should've kept striking and forget about the guard pull attempts