Demian Maia and Jimmie Rivera are no longer with the UFC after their current UFC deals came to a close recently.
At 43-years-old, it had been anticipated that Maia’s time in the Octagon would soon be drawing to a close, and it appears that his last two defeats against Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad have confirmed that to be the case.
However, Maia has actually been calling for a ‘farewell fight’ against another big name veteran, with the likes of Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz having been touted by the Brazilian as potential opponents he’d like to go up against, and even with his contract now over he’s still keeping his fingers crossed that something could be arranged.
“I’ve fought my entire life in the UFC,” Maia told mmafighting.com. “That’s my home. I want to do one last fight there, and I think it depends on what happens in Brazil. That’s a feeling my manager and I have. If they are having shows with fans here soon, I think that will draw interest from the UFC to have me fighting. I’m waiting and seeing what happens, but I do want to fight one last fight. I’m still training twice a day.”
Maia did join the UFC early in his career, starting all the way back in 2007 when he was just 6-0 a a professional in MMA, but already had a big reputation as a top-flight BJJ talent.
Maia was soon proving the hype was real as he went on a five-fight winning streak, all by submission, against the likes of Chael Sonnen, Nate Quarry and Ed Herman at middleweight, which would eventually lead him to a title fight against Anderson Silva, but it was a lackluster performance from both men that night and after coming off second best he would eventually make his way down to welterweight.
To his credit, Maia then slowly but surely worked his way towards a 170lb title shot, winning seven fights in a row against stars like Jorge Masvidal, Carlos Condit and Matt Brown, though he would again come up short in his title fight against Tryon Woodley, losing out by decision.
In total Maia bows out of the UFC with a 22-11 record, with 11 of his victories having come by way of submission.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Rivera’s six-year run in the UFC has also come to an end after his deal also ran out without being offered a new one.
Rivera’s time in the Octagon had got off to a strong start with a five-fight winning streak that included the likes of Urijah Faber, Thomas Almeida, Iuri Alcantara and Pedro Munhoz.
However, he’s experienced mixed results since then, picking up just two wins from his past six fights, including a 1-1 stint at flyweight before his contract concluded.
