Chael Sonnen fighting Demian Maia, not Anderson Silva!

Props: Brazilian Black Belt

Demian Maia has already confirmed his next opponent. He will fight in London, UFC 95 (February 21), against Chael Sonnen (which won the Brazilian Paulo Filho in his last fight).

After the WEC abolished the 185 and 205lb divisions, a few of the fighters from the organization were signed to the WEC’s big brother organization, the UFC.  Right before the removal of the bigger weight classes, Chael Sonnen soundly defeated Brazilian submission guru Paulo Filho, who at the time was widely considered the #2 middleweight in the world behind UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.  Sonnen reported after the win over Filho that he was going to fight Anderson Silva for the UFC middleweight title when he returned to the UFC (Sonnen previously fought three times for the organization, going 1-2), Well…..he’s been mistaken! Looks like Maia’s camp has the low-down, and it looks like Chael’s getting a helluva fight thrown at him for a return.   Maia, for those who don’t know, is widely considered to be the best overall grappler in mixed martial arts, period.  His ground game is off the charts, the guy’s currently 9-0, including a 4-0 run in the UFC, with wins over Ryan Jensen, Ed Herman, Jason MacDonald, and most recently Nate Quarry.  He’s definitely in line for a title shot, and I firmly think that if he defeats Chael (which I suspect he will), he’ll get the chance to knab that belt off of Anderson Silva’s waist.

As for Chael, I think that the victory over Filho as well a victory over Maia would easily put him in the front running spot for a title shot as well. He’s a great wrestler training out of Team Quest with Matt Lindland, he’s fought a lot of veteran fighters and still has plenty of time to improve his skills.  In all truth, I don’t think he’ll be much of a test for Anderson, but at this junction, who really is?  Right now, it’s about giving the guys who deserve a shot the chance to fight for the most coveted belt in all of MMA, and if Chael’s that guy, then so be it.

As of right now, and mind you some of these are rumors….here’s the upcoming UFC 95 fight card which take place on Febuary 21st, 2009:

Main Event:
Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson

Undercard:
Wilson Gouveia vs. Nate Marquardt
Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen
Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
Shannon Gugerty vs. Tom Lawson
Stefan Struve vs. Junior dos Santos
Neil Grove vs. TBA