UFC 131 Fight Card: Will Demain Maia Submit Mark Munoz?

 One of the many fights at UFC 131 being buried under the Junior Dos Santos-Shane Carwin hype is an intriguing middleweight match between Demian Maia and and Mark Munoz.

Demian Maia is one of the best grapplers in the world, having won the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC, or just Abu Dhabi for short) Submission Wrestling Championship in 2007. As an ADCC champion and Abu Dhabi veteran, Maia's ground game is to be respected and feared. Eight out of 14 wins have come by way of slick submission.

Munoz, while not one of the premier grapplers in the world, is a former NCAA Division-I wrestler, a heavy hitter, and a very strong middleweight. His nickname of "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" suits him perfectly.

When strictly comparing grappling credentials, the outcome of the bout seems like a no-brainer; Demian Maia will obviously submit Mark Munoz. He managed to submit a better wrestler in Chael Sonnen and will therefore have no problem with Munoz.

However, the fight may not play out this way.

Munoz is thicker and stronger than Sonnen and has far better submission defense. Also, he will have seen what Maia did to Sonnen (a beautiful suplex and then a triangle choke) and will know to keep his distance and employ a "sprawl and brawl" tactic against the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace.

Maia has shown that his striking isn't exactly crisp in the past despite the fact that he trains with former Pride champion and MMA legend Wanderlei Silva. He has also been knocked out by Nate Marquardt, a man with only eight (T)KOs in 31 victories (one of which came to injury).

Will Maia be able to submit Munoz? Don't count on it. If Maia pulls guard, Munoz will use his superior wrestling base to stymie Maia and will seek to get the fight standing again as soon as he is able to. Munoz will very likely be able to get the better of Maia in the stand-up exchanges and avoid the takedowns en route to either a decision or a late knockout victory.