Top 60 Demian Maia Quotes

Everybody has their own opinions and you cannot please everybody. I’m never going to try to do that – to please everybody – because there is always somebody who will say they don’t like it.

When you fight MMA, there are so many things involved, so many techniques, that you just can’t do everything or you’ll over-train.

Sometimes I don’t talk too much, that’s myself, but I truly believe I can be the champion. I feel, I can visualize that.

I’m sure about my style. I always go to fight. I always go to be aggressive.

For the title, I would do anything.

The striking game is always a lottery game, so I prefer to take the safe situation. Submission is the best for me. I’m the guy looking for it all the time.

A lot of people came up to me and said you need to trash talk. That’s not me.

The day I stop aiming for the title, I will stop fighting.

Fights are all about styles and matchups.

MMA is pretty tough on your mind because it’s a sport that’s not just about winning. You really want to win bad, but it’s tough when you lose. You get beaten. And it really messes with your ego, because nobody wants to get beaten by other people physically. It’s not just a game. You get beaten physically.

I will fight everywhere, but I trust a lot on my jiu-jitsu.

In general, I think longer fights benefits jiu-jitsu fighters because the other guy can make mistakes.

I had good teachers and I loved to compete in jiu-jitsu. I was doing good, a world champ, but I always knew I wanted to fight.

I felt when I was hitting guys or going for a takedown at 185, sometimes it was like hitting a wall.

I didn’t choose this career for money. When I started training, I did it because I liked it, and I never had money for anything in my life.

Playboy in Brazil is like a rich boy, but I’ve never been a rich boy. My family is not rich. Actually, I help all my family.

Everybody that I fight always avoids jiu-jitsu.

I know my jiu-jitsu is good enough to beat the best guys in the world.

I’m not going to sell myself just because I want to be a champion, just because I want to make more money, you know?

I need to improve my striking and my wrestling, but I always be best at jiu-jitsu.

For the title, if they say, ‘Ok, let’s sit and wait,’ I will sit and wait because I know it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.

If we fought like the old days, with no time limit, it would be better to work. We only have five minutes to work per round so it’s complicated, especially because everybody knows that my ground game is good.

I went to college. I did that but I worked at the same time, and I trained.

Don’t get me wrong – I love going to academy every day and training as hard as I can; I love to learn. But I have other plans. When you are in the UFC, you gotta save 80 percent of your time for that. I want to do other nice stuff, other things that give me pleasure also.

I want to be remembered as a guy who goes out and represents the art of jiu-jitsu.

I don’t sell myself. I am what I am. I’m a role model for a lot of people, for my kids. I don’t want to just change because I want to make more money.

I know you can’t lose concentration when you get in range, otherwise you’ll get caught with something.

A loss is horrible, and it’s even worse in the UFC.

I come to grapple.

Seminars, TV shows, documentaries, always spreading Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I’m an instrument of this art more than a character myself.

When I see wrestlers fight, they train a lot of boxing because they don’t want to end up on bottom.

I think that people believe in lies and they repeat the lies so many times that the people start to believe, ‘ah, Demian is not fighting for the title because he doesn’t sell.’

When I fight, nobody boos. Everybody likes it. Everyone cheers for me. I’m happy about that, because I’m one of the guys who is putting the grappling and jiu-jitsu on the level where people are interested in the technique. I can get people excited about it.

We are athletes, and we work very hard in our way to the title.

I lived in Barueri for a long time, and now I live in a city close to Barueri, so it’s like my backyard.

My jiu-jitsu is very good, and anytime I’m able to show what my coaches and my team are capable of doing, I really enjoy it.

I was always very, very focused, just thinking about the title.

Chael is a pretty tough and strategic opponent and very hard to put down.

People learn. If you market somebody, let’s say GSP, a lot of people were saying he was doing boring fights because he was taking the guys down and controlling them, but he was winning, and he was the guy who selling the most.

Jiu-jitsu teaches you not to hurt your opponent, and that’s inside of me.

I’m a jiu-jitsu guy and that’s my root.

I had my first professional fight was in 2001 in Venezuela – it was also my first international trip away from Brazil. It was a great experience. Then in 2005, I went to Finland and won. The next year there was a tournament in Brazil with three fights in one night. I was the underdog and won all three fights.

Jiu-jitsu fighters usually have an advantage in longer fights even though MMA has breaks between rounds.

When you get asked if you want the title, you really need to push for that. That’s why I want to do it my style, not do it so loud, but I want to fight for the title.

The difference between me and other black belts is that I truly believe that jujitsu can be used in all aspects of MMA, because it was created to do that. If you train hard, it will work.

I’m a very competitive type, so I want to win the fight first of everything.

I would never say ‘Demian Maia jiu-jitsu.’ I created lots of things that became known, but it’s all Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Things can change quickly in the UFC. I lost to Nate Marquardt in my first loss as a middleweight and then I defeated Dan Miller and fought for the title against Anderson Silva.

When I got into UFC, it was an unbelievable feeling. When I got inside the cage, ‘Big’ John McCarthy – a guy who I was watching back when Royce Gracie was fighting – was the referee. I was able to earn a quick submission win. It was perfect.

I started training judo when I was 5 years old. I didn’t know much. My mom just took me and my brother to do some judo because we were very energetic. We did that for a couple of years. I don’t know why we stopped, but I came back to try other forms of martial arts like kung fu and karate when I was 12 and never stopped.

My loss to Marquardt was just one of those things. I made a mistake and got caught. I think I had a lot more to offer in that fight, but he caught me before I had a chance to show it.

Striking isn’t just about kicking and punching. It’s far more complex than that. It’s also about timing and range.

All of my fights, I try to end the fight. That’s my style.

Any man can be defeated.

I always try to improve my stand-up game, it’s very important for me.

It’s obvious that I want to reach Cerrone’s win record, I know that’s important for my career. Those milestones last forever, even if someone passes you later, they are forever.

I think I’ve already won the most important titles in Brazilian jujitsu and grappling.

Fights are fights. It’s a cliche, but it’s true, you can never know how they’ll go down for sure until you do it.

I know my mission is not just to be a champion, I mean, being champion would be great and I want to be one, but it’s not under my control, you know.

A lot of people love what I do and a lot of people don’t like or hate my style, so it’s external – I really don’t care about that. I’m happy with the people that appreciate it, but I’m not unhappy with the people that don’t like it.