When Mark Muñoz got hurt earlier this week, Michael Bisping was selected to replace him vs. Chael Sonnen, with the winner getting a shot at champion Anderson Silva. Bisping had been scheduled to fight Demian Maia.
That left Maia without an opponent, just weeks before he was scheduled to fight. Although he will be facing Chris Weidman, the first offer mentioned by UFC President Dana White was Rousimar Palhares, who was coming off a quick win Saturday night at UFC 142 over Mike Massenzio.
The match would have provided a compelling BJJ vs BJJ fight, but Palhares turned it down.
Now Maia says he too did not want it.
"(A fight with Palhares ) was rumored," said Maia over the phone. "But I thought there wouldn't be any possibility (of it happening), because he just fought. It doesn't make sense for him to throw himself into another fight right now. "Toquinho" trained a few months for this fight. Just because (the Massenzio fight) was fast doesn't mean there was no wear and tear.
"But I don't even think about that. To be honest, the Brazilian fans should be more concerned about seeing us fighting gringos. There are few Brazilian fighters in the (middleweight) division and I think that, except for the title, since it's Anderson (Silva) who is the champion, the Brazilians should not face each other."
The UFC middleweight division currently has seven Brazilians on the roster in addition to Maia: Vitor Belfort, Ronny Markes, Rafael Sapo, Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva and Rousimar Palhares.
Demian declined to complain about his initial opponent being one fight away from a title shot.
"It's not about justice or injustice," said Maia. "(Who gets a title shot) is not sport amateur ranking ... it is determined by the market. Of course, you have to win ... I hope that a victory over Weidman will give me the same leverage as if it were against Bisping. It was not my choice not to fight Bisping."
Source (Portuguese original: Maia: Not enough Brazilians at mw, shouldn't fight each other
