Legendary martial artist and MMA fighter Royce Gracie spoke with Tatame.com and expressed his appreciation and admiration for the way that rising star Demian Maia is performing thus far in the sport.

"Demian Maia is [expletive] good. The guy is really good at submissions, knows how to enter the clinch, knows how to take down, fights from the guard, it isn’t just staying down and striking, you have to know how to defend yourself and he’s doing that very well."

For a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu based fighter like Maia who is faced with the challenge of adapting his prestigious grappling background into the tumultuous lanscape of MMA, accolades like this from the man who changed the way the world looked at hand-to-hand combat don't get any better. Royce Gracie, who solidified Gracie/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a necessary ingredient for any well-rounded fighter by submitting his way to win three of the first four UFC tournaments, needs no introduction.  He was the calm yet composed looking fighter in the white gi we all witnessed in the early days; hanging off many an arm or confusingly entangled with a much larger or "scarier looking" opponent as the unfortunate latter tapped the mat furiously, hoping the referee was in position to stop the bout before they parted with consciousness or a very useful appendage. Despite the significant evolution of MMA since then (a whopping sixteen years ago), Demian Maia can currently be seen in the limelight of the UFC enforcing the same kind of fluid and effortless submission game, and also enjoying the same satisfying result. Maia entered the UFC in late 2007 amidst claims of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu superiority in the sport grappling world, and quickly validated his reputation by implementing his silky smooth grappling ability to conquer five very game competitors in a row, each offering a gradual increase in competition as Maia swept and submitted his way up each rung of the UFC MW ladder.  He now finds himself a serious contender for Anderson Silva's untouchable crown, facing the highly experienced former King of Pancrase, Nate Marquardt, who represents the top of the food chain in the 185 lbs. division- and by far Maia's most significant and established opponent to date. Maia is currently 10-0 with 8 competitors yielding to his almighty submission skills, one falling by TKO, with only the resilient and fiesty "Ximu" Machado (who has only been submitted once in 24 fights by Thales Leites) having the competency to go the distance with him.  Maia is a multiple time ADCC winner and has competed against some of grappling's best  before making the treacherous jump into MMA, beating names like David Avellan, Rafael Lovato Jr., and DREAM MW submission whiz Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza. Maia is putting in heavy hours at the gym with MMA legend Wanderlei Silva at the Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas in preparation for his showdown with Marquardt, which will take place at UFC 102 in Portland on August 29.

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