Demian Maia disagrees with defeat to Shields: 'You can't understand the judges'

D. Maia (photo) believes she beat J.Shields. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

By split decision, Jake Shields won Demian Maia in the main fight of UFC Fight Night 29, this Wednesday (09). But in the Brazilian's opinion, the reality was a little different. After the fight, during a press conference, Demian was unhappy with the result and criticized the judges of the night's main fight in Barueri, in greater São Paulo.

“From what I saw, the fight was decided in the fifth round. I think I won the round. I defended the takedowns, I believe I was more incisive standing up. You can’t understand the judges”, said Maia, who justified her point of view. “My strategy was to defend the takedowns in the last part and try to defend on my feet. In the first round, I arrived in a more dangerous position and could have been given to anyone. The second he won. I think I won the third one, as well as the fourth and fifth. I wanted to defend the takedowns and score standing up in the fifth,” he added.

Even with Demian's disagreement, his fight was the third decided by split decision on the main card of the event, a rare fact in the history of Ultimate. The results generated controversy and criticism from other athletes during the press conference. Fábio Maldonado, who beat Joey Beltran that night, even joked that the judge who gave victory to his opponent was “having a coffee” during the fight and that is why he would have scored such a score.