Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields agreed for UFC Fight Night 29 on October 9th
A previously reported welterweight fight between Demian Maia and Jake Shields looks to be set for October 9th as part of a UFC Fight Night.
Last month it was reported that Demian Maia and Jake Shields had verbally agreed to fight each other at a date TBD. Now it looks like they've determined the date and setting, as MMA Fighting's Guillherme Cruz reports that this fight will be in Brazil on October 9th as part of a UFC Fight Night on Fox Sports 1.
Maia (18-4) is 3-0 at welterweight with wins over Dong Hyun Kim, Rick Story, and Jon Fitch. It's been a career resurgence for the submission specialist, who had seemingly stagnated at middleweight following his title loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 112. Maia was supposed to fight Josh Koscheck at UFC 163 before Koscheck pulled out with an injury.
Shields (28-6-1, 1 NC) returned to welterweight after failing his drug test and losing his win against Ed Herman at UFC 150. The former Strikeforce champion defeated Tyron Woodley at UFC 161 in what can only be described as a fight that took place in the UFC this year. Shields is unbeaten in his last 3 and could conceivably re-enter the top 10 rankings with a win over Maia.
No word on whether this will be a main event or not, but a fight of this importance probably merits five round treatment. This card also includes Rony Jason/Jeremy Stephens and Erick Silva/Dong Hyun Kim, with a reported LHW fight between Thiago Silva/Matt Hamill also targeted for this date.
FOX Sports 1 Main Card (7 p.m. ET):
170 lbs.: Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva
145 lbs.: Rony Jason vs. Jeremy Stephens
205 lbs.: Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva
205 lbs.: Joey Beltran vs. Fabio Maldonado
135 lbs.: T.J. Dillashaw vs. Raphael Assuncao
FOX Sports 1 Prelims (5 p.m. ET):
170 lbs.: Mike Pierce vs. Rousimar Palhares
145 lbs.: Hacran Dias vs. Rodrigo Damm
170 lbs.: Igor Araujo vs. Ildemar Alcantara
170 lbs.: Yan Cabral vs. David Mitchell
Facebook Prelims (4 p.m. ET):
125 lbs.: Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos
155 lbs.: Alan Patrick vs. Garett Whiteley