Diego Sanchez responds to Demian Maia’s callout

Shortly after he defeated Ben Askren at UFC Singapore, welterweight grappling ace Demian Maia expressed interest in a fight with the veteran Diego Sanchez.

“Diego Sanchez is somebody that has been calling me out for years,” Maia said. “It’s a veteran fight. If people like it, I can do it.”

It didn’t take long for Sanchez to respond to this comment from Maia. From the sounds of it, he’s all for the matchup. Of course, we already knew that.

Sanchez responded to Maia in a post on his official Instagram page.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4FqKjuAdzP/

“Let’s go @danawhite I didn’t get the go on the @showtimepettis fight I have paid my dues, only you know the truth of my last outing. Let’s put it together Jan 18th in Vegas!!! two legends want to dance let us dance!” – Diego Sanchez on Instagram.

The immediate appeal of this matchup is that Maia is arguably the greatest submission specialist in UFC history, and that Sanchez has never been submitted in his 41-fight career. Could Maia be the first man to force Sanchez to nap or tap? It’d be interesting to see.

While the 41-year-old Demian Maia seems unlikely to earn another welterweight title shot at this stage of his career, he has quietly amassed a solid, three-fight streak over Lyman Good, Anthony Rocco Martin, and now Askren.

Diego Sanchez, meanwhile, was defeated by Michael Chiesa in his last fight, but preceded that loss with a pair of defeats over Craig White and Mickey Gall. While he’s open to a fight with Maia, he’s also recently discussed a matchup with Emil Meek.

Does a Sanchez vs. Maia fight interest you? Who do you think would win?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/28/2019.