Demian Maia Recounts The Time He Got Stabbed In Street Fight: “My Shirt Was Soaked In Blood”
Of all the athletes signed to the UFC, Demian Maia seems one of the least likely to get involved in a street fight. Despite being an elite athlete, Maia has become known over the years for his calm and respectful attitude.
The grizzled veteran has competed in the UFC for 15 years, starting all the way from 2007 to last June. Maia is widely regarded as one of the greatest grapplers to set foot inside the octagon and is a former title challenger in the promotion, once for the Middleweight title against Anderson Silva, and the other for the Welterweight strap against Tyron Woodley.
Demian Maia recollects a street fight in Sweden
In a recent appearance on the Inteligencia Ltda. podcast, Demian Maia recalled a harrowing story of the time he got stabbed in a street fight in Sweden.
“I’m in the corner of the club, having my beer, wine, but not drinking too much,” Maia said. “They turn on the light around 2 AM to shut the club. Since I was friends with the security guard, I thought I will wait till they clear up their job, and then I will move out.
“When I stood up, there were some guys from that gang there and saw me. They knew I was a guy from the outside since it is a very small time. And the guy came at me to push me.”
He had a knee injury at the time and believed he overreacted because of that.
“I overreacted because of my knee injury. When he came to put his hand on me, I threw an elbow at him. In his face. The elbow was so hard he landed on his own leg. I was like ‘God please help me, I hope I didn’t kill this guy.’ I got punched in the head because he was with other guys.” (h/t First Sportz)
Demian Maia gets stabbed in the belly
Maia realized the fight was about to escalate as the friends of the guy he struck jumped on the 44-year-old Brazilian.
“So I took 1, 2 punches and I step back to measure the distance,” said Maia. “But things are very fast. So I set up a guard and I thought ‘Okay, I am going to fight the guys. The security will arrive shortly, and I know who they are so they will break up the fight.”
“Suddenly I see a small guy coming up beside me quietly. He came and hit me in the belly. The guy didn’t hit me in the belly, he stabbed me, and I know it right away. Because these guys don’t know how to fight. He would never hit you in the belly, he’ll hit the head. As soon as it hit down here, I felt a knock and they ran away.
“I still didn’t know if I was stabbed. I just felt the knock, but I was suspicious. When the guys ran away, I did it here. I looked over quickly and my shirt was soaked in blood.”
It’s a crazy story of one of the most well-recognized faces from the UFC. Demian Maia has remained out of action since his last outing at UFC 263 but continues to participate in grappling tournaments.
