Muñoz decisions Maia in UFC 131

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Mark Muñoz showed up with one of his impressive well-rounded efforts in his young career as he edged Demian Maia with a unanimous decision victory in their middleweight clash which served as one of the undercard matches in the UFC 131 in Vancouver, British Columbia yesterday.

The 33-year-old Muñoz, who was born in Yokouska, Japan and fighting out of Vallejo, California, used solid groundwork and went on to earn the nods of the three judges, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27.

The former All-American wrestler, nicknamed “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” in the UFC who fought for Oklahoma State U and had a degree in Health Science, ranked the win as one of his most impressive to date.

“This is perhaps the most well-rounded performance of my UFC career and the best has yet to come,” said Muñoz in post-fight interview.

It was Muñoz’s 11th win against two losses and third straight following victories over CB Dolloway in UFC Versus last March and Aaron Simpson in UFC 123 in November last year.

His only loss on the octagon was to Yushin Okami of Japan in UFC Live in August last year, that came after he debuted with a pair of emphatic wins over Ryan Jensen in UFC 108 and Kendall Grove in UFC 112 also last year.

Muñoz first fought in the star-studded light heavyweight division but decided to go down one weight class to avoid a confrontation with close buddy and fellow Fil-Am Brandon “The Truth” Vera, who was recently re-signed by the UFC.

Muñoz hopes to pile up enough victories to get him in a long line for a crack at the middleweight title fight against the Brazilian menace Anderson “The Spider” Silva, currently the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world today.