Welterweight veteran Demian Maia is set to return to action against Anthony Rocco Martin at UFC On ESPN 3 in Minnesota on June 29th.
The 41-year-old Maia is coming off a first round rear-naked choke victory against Lyman Good back in February.
However, prior to that the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace had lost three fights in a row for the first time in his career, initially fighting to a unanimous decision loss in a title shot against Tyron Woodley in 2017, followed by two more losses on the scorecards against Colby Covington and future champion Kamaru Usman.
Those are the three top ranked fighters in the division at this moment in time though, so there’s no shame in those defeats and Maia now sets his sights on a less established but in-form Martin.
12-years his junior, the 29-year-old Martin is currently riding a four-fight winning streak that’s seen him defeat Keita Nakamura, Ryan LaFlare, Jake Matthews and most recently Sergio Moraes.
In fact, aside from a split decision loss to Oliveir Aubin-Mercier in 2017, Martin has won seven fights in the UFC since January of 2016 and will now look to get his biggest victory to date.
Maia vs. Martin joins a UFC On ESPN 3 card that’s set to be headlined by a rematch between Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler.
