At the age of 41, Damien Maia is finally beginning to contemplate retirement, and it seems he has targeted Diego Sanchez as a potential opponent for his swan song.
“I wish I can fight in Sao Paulo in November,” Maia told reporters after his victory over Anthony Rocco Martin this past Saturday night. “Hopefully against Diego Sanchez since he’s been challenging me. It would be a nice fight and maybe it would be my last one, I don’t know. Maybe if it’s not the next one, then a couple more, but for sure no more fights past 2020.”
It seems to be just one idea that Maia is batting around though as he’s still keeping an open mind about what might come next.
“I feel pretty well. That’s why I keep going, because I love what I do. If I start to feel my body, then I will stop. Because I feel so well, I keep going. But I have other projects that I want to do, and that’s the only thing that makes me think about stopping. It’s more about the other things I want to do.
“I love to help spread jiu-jitsu across the world,” he added. “With the UFC being the biggest platform for it, that is why I still do this. I never did this for the money; I do it because I love it.”
