Why can't Maia submit anyone anymore?

Comes to the UFC, gets a string of awesome submission wins.

Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.

What happened?

Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.

 Trying new things against guys he can beat.

BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.


Not really true. He had Miller, Miranda and Grove down on the ground. He spent the majority of his fights with Miranda and Grove on the ground, but couldn't finish. The truth is his opponents have been better grapplers than guys he faced earlier in his UFC career. Despite Maia being better than them, it's still hard to finish other skilled grapplers in MMA with BJJ alone.

stillmatic - 
BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.


Not really true. He had Miller, Miranda and Grove down on the ground. He spent the majority of his fights with Miranda and Grove on the ground, but couldn't finish. The truth is his opponents have been better grapplers than guys he faced earlier in his UFC career. Despite Maia being better than them, it's still hard to finish other skilled grapplers in MMA with BJJ alone.

Dave Herman can answer that

stillmatic - 
BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.



Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.




Not really true. He had Miller, Miranda and Grove down on the ground. He spent the majority of his fights with Miranda and Grove on the ground, but couldn't finish. The truth is his opponents have been better grapplers than guys he faced earlier in his UFC career. Despite Maia being better than them, it's still hard to finish other skilled grapplers in MMA with BJJ alone.
lol.



Chael would probably have some disagreement with that.



It's abundantly clear he's been focussing on standup and most likely thinks subs and grappling aren't necasarily a ticket to more fights. Sad as it is.

 

pulsar - 
stillmatic - 
BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.


Not really true. He had Miller, Miranda and Grove down on the ground. He spent the majority of his fights with Miranda and Grove on the ground, but couldn't finish. The truth is his opponents have been better grapplers than guys he faced earlier in his UFC career. Despite Maia being better than them, it's still hard to finish other skilled grapplers in MMA with BJJ alone.
lol.

Chael would probably have some disagreement with that.

It's abundantly clear he's been focussing on standup and most likely thinks subs and grappling aren't necasarily a ticket to more fights. Sad as it is.
 


Do you not see Maia shoot for takedowns every fight he's in? He's worked on his boxing obviously, but he still wants the fight on the ground whenever he can.

i was amazed at how he let his hands go against munoz

There was a thread about this earlier. If you look at the guys Maia has fought recently, it's no surprise that he hasn't been able to submit them. Miller, Miranda and Munoz have never been submitted in their pro careers and Grove hasn't been submitted in his last 16 fights (last submission loss is from 2005).
These guys are just really good grapplers who knew they were fighting Maia so they probably drilled sub defense like crazy on their fight camps. Hell, Grove came really close to submitting Big Dog Almeida with an armbar.

BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.



Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.


 

No one really knew who he was when he first entered the UFC (outside the BJJ world). So they didn't realize how retarded his submission game was. Now, everyone knows he's got dangerous BJJ so they're gonna focus on sub defense/takedown defense. That's why he's having a harder time catching people because they come prepared to defend.

I'm sure after his Munoz fight, Maia's future opponents won't be under estimating his striking anymore. Phone Post

stillmatic -
BenBJJ - Gets KO'd by Marquardt, starts focusing on striking a lot more.

Decisions from there on. Stays standing in his fights.


Not really true. He had Miller, Miranda and Grove down on the ground. He spent the majority of his fights with Miranda and Grove on the ground, but couldn't finish. The truth is his opponents have been better grapplers than guys he faced earlier in his UFC career. Despite Maia being better than them, it's still hard to finish other skilled grapplers in MMA with BJJ alone.

He also used almost zero ground and pound to set up his subs. This was especially true against Miranda. I think with the gloves it's hard to sub a guy who knows what he's doing, and can focus 100% of his attention and energy on preventing the sub. Phone Post

He's perhaps suffering from Jorge Gurgel syndrome...

Its the level of competition he is facing. Maia is a great grappler but hes not going to be able to submit everyone. Especially when he is fighting other grapplers. In the beginning, he basically was submitting C level fighters with the exception of Chael but his submission defense is non existent.

 It's my theory about MMA well roundedness sometimes being a detriment playing out. If Maia focused only on what made him successful and applying it to his fights, he'd still be at the top of the division. He's obviously doing less BJJ and hitting the weights and pads more than the mats. See Michael Cro Cop for another guy who lost something of his original top level skillset in a quest to be well rounded