Demian Maia reached the top of the mountain while competing at middleweight, challenging then-UFC champion Anderson Silva for the belt.
Now as a veteran in one of the more loaded divisions in the promotion, welterweight, Maia believes the UFC was using – and continues to – him as a stepping stone for other challengers to emerge.
Case in point, Maia’s three previous fights all came vs. fighters he describes as “rising prospects.” Wins in all three, though, earned him his bout Saturday night in the featured prelim at UFC 198 vs. Matt Brown.
“I always want to take Top-10 or Top-5 guys,” Maia told Combate. “Always. But in my last fights, they kept giving me these rising prospects that many people thought could beat me.
“But I beat them all, one after the other.”
The list includes Ryan LaFlare, Neil Magny and Gunnar Nelson, but none of those three have the track record of a Brown.
“In those fights, I had the impression they were trying to use me as a stepping stone,” Maia said. “I beat them all convincingly. Now I have the chance to fight Matt Brown, a really tough guy. But it doesn’t matter who I fight.
“With my arsenal, I believe I can beat everybody in the division. That’s why I want a title shot if I beat Brown.”
The 38-year-old Maia (22-6) is on a four-fight win streak overall and is 7-2 over his last nine. The losses came via decision to Rory MacDonald and Jake Shields.
