Demian Maia vs. Gilbert Burns Reported for UFC Brasilia in March

A grappler’s delight is headed to UFC Brasilia (UFC Fight Night 170), with Demian Maia facing Gilbert Burns in March, as reported by UFC Combate on Saturday.

Two of Brazilians own will fight in a bout that will reportedly serve as the UFC Brasilia co-main event when Demian Maia takes on Gilbert Burns. Demian Maia has never shied away from providing opportunities to younger talent ranked beneath him, having helped catapult welterweight champion Kamaru Usman as well as Colby Covington to where they are now. Gilbert Burns will look to follow the footsteps of those names by taking on a fighter ranked seven spots above him in the rankings and continuing his winning ways.

Winner of four consecutive fights, Gilbert Burns is ready for a big opportunity to crack the top 10, and Demian Maia is giving it to him. Burns is currently the winner of four consecutive fights, with his most recent victory being against another top-level grappler in Gunnar Nelson. Burns is now advancing towards another grappling ace in Maia, who is considered by many to be the best grappler in the history of the UFC. A victory here will be a fifth straight win for Burns and land him the highest-ranked position he has ever had in his career.

At 42 years of age, Demian Maia still loves to compete and is still after UFC gold before he retires. He is making that run by taking no shortcuts, willing to fight whoever and whenever. Not unlike Burns, Maia is also coming off of a victory against a high-level grappler. In Maia’s case, it was wrestling ace Ben Askren, whom Maia submitted at UFC Singapore. Don’t look now, but Maia himself is currently on a three-fight winning streak and another win over a ranked opponent would put the legend in a very interesting position in the welterweight picture.

UFC Brasilia takes place March 14 from the Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil. With the addition of this bout, the current UFC Brasilia card contains the following bouts:

• Jussier Formiga vs. Brandon Moreno
• Demian Maia vs. Gilbert Burns
• Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Alexey Kunchenko
• Johnny Walker vs. Nikita Krylov
• Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Makhmud Muradov
• Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
• Rani Yaya vs. Enrique Barzola
• Veronica Macedo vs. Bea Malecki