UFC Fight Night 62: Maia vs. LaFlare Date: March , 2015 Location: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Venue: Ginasio do Maracanazinho Broadcast: FS1 UFC Welterweight Contender Ryan LaFlare Ryan LaFlare (11-0) is quickly making a statement that he’s a serious contender to watch out for in the UFC welterweight division. The 31-year-old American is undefeated in his MMA career at 11-0 including a 4-0 mark inside the Octagon with wins over Santiago Ponzinibbio, Ben Alloway, John Howard and Court McGee. A wrestler by trade, LaFlare is able to take most of his opponents down and hold them on the mat to win clear-cut decisions. His is constantly improving his standup and his submissions and once he figures out how to use them all in unison he will be a title contender. The UFC has seen the improvements LaFlare is made and they are giving him a huge opportunity in the main event against Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 62 and if he wins this fight, he’ll be talked about as an elite 170lber, no doubt about it. UFC Welterweight Contender Demian Maia Demian Maia (19-6) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu superstar who has won just about every BJJ competition known to mankind, but in the last few years he has shown an expanded tool set on the feet and he is now a complete MMA fighter. The 37-year-old Brazilian took his third degree black belt and made the move to welterweight for the first time at UFC 148, giving him an edge in size, as he was having trouble with the bigger middleweights. Following an unimpressive unanimous decision loss to Chris Weidman at middleweight, he bounced back with a knockout win against Dong Hyun Kim in his welterweight debut when his opponent suffered an injury and could not continue. He followed that up with a submission win over Rick Story at UFC 153 and then defeated Jon Fitch by decision at UFC 156 to jump into the welterweight title discussions. Unfortunately for Maia, back-to-back decision losses to Rory MacDonald and Jake Shields pushed him out of title talks, but he bounced back with an impressive victory over Alexander Yakovlev at the TUF Brazil 3 Finale. After taking nearly a year off to deal with a staph infection, Maia is ready to return to the Octagon and in his return bout he’ll take on Ryan LaFlare in the main event of UFC Fight Night 62. Opening UFC Fight Night 62 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made LaFlare a -125 favorite (bet $125 to win $100) while Maia opened as a -115 underdog (bet $115 to win $100) at Several Bookmakers. This is an excellent fight between two fantastic welterweight grapplers, and while I don’t believe it should be a main event, I still think it’s a good fight. LaFlare has looked awesome in the UFC so far, going 4-0 to remain undefeated in his career, but he hasn’t fought in a year and Maia represents a massive step up in competition. As for Maia, he’s one of the top-10 ranked welterweights but hasn’t fought in nearly a year either and seems to be on the downside of his career at this point. However, he has been losing only to elite fighters so perhaps his decline has been overblown. Regardless, this is a good fight, and one that should be very competitive. Although Maia is the proven commodity, LaFlare actually opened up as the slight favorite, which might surprise some, but the American is a terrific wrestler and seems to have more in the tank at this point. This is a close fight that could go either way, so tread cautiously with your money.
