If you liked the prospect of Demian Maia facing Michael Chiesa next, don’t get your hopes up. It doesn’t sound like that fight is going to happen. Shortly after his victory at UFC Fortaleza, Maia called out fellow jiu-jitsu ace Michael Chiesa to face off against each other next. Maia said a lot of fans took to social media to propose the match-up to him after seeing Chiesa defeat Carlos Condit.
After his submission victory over Lyman Good, Maia took his shot at making the bout happen. In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Chiesa responded to Maia’s call out. Given Maia would like to fight in Curitiba, Brazil in May, Chiesa doesn’t see that working with his desired schedule:
“That’s cool, it’s flattering coming from Demian, I just don’t think I fit in his timeline,” Chiesa said. “I don’t see May in Curitiba fitting into my schedule.
“We already got an opponent in mind, I can’t really say too much, but I think UFC is really looking to go a different direction with me and this certain guy. Thank you, Demian, I’m a big fan of the guy, but I just don’t see it in the foreseeable future.”
Chiesa won his welterweight debut at UFC 232 in December. “Maverick” defeated Carlos Condit via second-round submission by way of a kimura. It would’ve certainly been interesting to see how Chiesa matched up against a fellow grappling specialist such as Maia.
What do you think about Chiesa turning down Maia’s call out?
