Alan Belcher vs Demian Maia In The Works For Ultimate Fight Night 22

An intriguing match up in the form of Alan Belcher vs. Demian Maia is possible for Ultimate Fight Night 22 on September 15 later this year.

MMA Fighting brought word of the pending top middleweight contender bout earlier today.

For more on the fight, we turn to MMAmania.com:

Belcher (16-6) was last seen using Patrick Cote’s head to dig for gold inside the Octagon at UFC 113 earlier this month. It was his second straight win (and second straight finish) after beating the snot out of Wilson Gouveia at UFC 107 in December of last year.

The outspoken but hard-hitting “Talent” wants a middleweight title shot and it would be hard to argue against him if he can dispose of the Brazilian with little effort.

Maia (12-2) has been to the mountaintop but the Sherpa sent him sent tumbling back down it after a five round fiasco at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. The loss to Anderson Silva was his second in three fights after stringing together ten straight wins.

He is undoubtedly one of the sport’s most gifted grapplers, but his striking has yet to evolve to a higher level. To his credit, he showed a marked improvement in a unanimous decision win against Dan Miller at UFC 109, but there will be little margin for error against Johnny Cash’s number one fan.

This is exactly the type of fight “The Talent” has been clamoring for. If he can run his winning streak to three with a victory over Demian Maia, who just went five rounds with middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, albeit in a one-sided affair, you’d have to think Belcher would be close to earning the title shot he believes he rightfully deserves.

Keep it locked to SB Nation for more information on Ultimate Fight Night 22 as it becomes available.