Demian Maia is hoping to be Georges St-Pierre’s opponent for his grappling match in December.
The UFC recently announced that St-Pierre would make his return to competition when he grapples at the UFC Fight Pass Invitational on December 14. It was surprising news but St-Pierre said he was excited about it and looked forward to grappling against someone with a big name.
“I’m doing this more as a novelty competition match than a competition match to have a ranking and place to be the best,” St-Pierre said on The MMA Hour. “Because no illusion, I’m 42 years old. I have other priorities that are more important than this right now. Even though I’m gonna show up and be in the best shape of my life for this and the most prepared that I can be.”
Georges St-Pierre did mention the likes of either of the Diaz brothers, Kamaru Usman or Colby Covington as potential opponents. Yet, on social media on Thursday, Demian Maia took to Twitter to call out St-Pierre and hint that he will be the Canadian’s opponent.
Maia calls out St-Pierre
Every now and then, something comes up that still does really motivate you.
Grappling @GeorgesStPierre will be a huge challenge & great motivation.
You GSP are one of the greatest competitors ever, whom I respect a lot. I’m game! Looking forward to competing at @ufc invitational.— Demian Maia (@demianmaia) July 20, 2023
“Every now and then, something comes up that still does really motivate you. Grappling @GeorgesStPierre will be a huge challenge & great motivation. You GSP are one of the greatest competitors ever, whom I respect a lot. I’m game! Looking forward to competing at @ufc invitational,” Maia tweeted.
On paper, a grappling match between Georges St-Pierre and Demian Maia would likely get the fans excited as Maia is a big-name opponent for St-Pierre. As well, Maia is one of the best grapplers and has competed at both welterweight and middleweight, so they do match up size-wise for the completion.
As for their careers, St-Pierre retired from MMA following UFC 217 when he returned to the UFC and beat Michael Bisping by submission to become the new middleweight champ. Maia, meanwhile, retired back in June of 2021 following a decision loss to Belal Muhammad.
