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UFC Fortaleza winner Demian Maia has eyes on Michael Chiesa for UFC 237 in Curitiba

FORTALEZA, Brazil – Demian Maia admits he’s not the type of fighter to call out opponents, but this time he made an exception – sort of.

Maia (26-9 MMA, 20-9 UFC) on Saturday made fairly easy work of Lyman Good (20-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) in their welterweight bout on the UFC on ESPN+ 2 main card. He put him away with a first-round standing rear-naked choke in front of his home fans in Brazil.

And with Father Time potentially ticking against the 41-year-old Maia, he’d like to experience another big fight in Curitiba, Brazil, before his fighting days are over. And that fight, he thinks, might as well be against Michael Chiesa (15-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC).

“After he won against (Carlos) Condit, a lot of people went to my Twitter page and started to talk about him fighting me and I got interested,” Maia told MMAjunkie after his win over Good. “I’m not a guy who watches a lot of fights. I’ve been in this game for so many years that in my free time, I don’t watch a lot of fights. I do it for work when I’m interested in my opponents.

“I don’t like to call (out) opponents, but it came to my mind because people keep asking me that.”

UFC on ESPN+ 2 took place Saturday at Centro de Formacao Olimpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil. The card streamed on ESPN+.

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The submission got Maia back in the win column after three straight losses to current welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a title fight at UFC 214, former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington, and upcoming title challenger Kamaru Usman. Prior to his title shot, Maia was on a roll with seven straight wins.

Chiesa just snapped a skid of his own with a second-round submission of Condit at UFC 232 in December. That fight was his first at welterweight after moving up from his longtime lightweight home.

The UFC will be in Curitiba in May for UFC 237 at Arena da Baixada, and Maia has history there. He submitted Matt Brown in the third round at that event, which set the venue’s attendance record with more than 45,000 fans.

“Curitiba would be great because the feeling is amazing,” Maia said. “I fought there with Matt Brown – 45,000 people in May 2016, almost three years ago. … It’s so cool to fight there in front of all those people. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s a feeling I want to have one more time before I finish my career.”

Chiesa has fought outside the United States just once in his pro career – and that was in Canada.

For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 2, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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