Mark Munoz and Chael Sonnen were high level wrestler on the collegiate scene. Munoz was a little more accomplished, but they've both used the same base to put together solid runs in the UFC. So when Munoz looks at how Sonnen did when he faced Demian Maia at UFC 95, it's almost hard to imagine the former Oklahoma State star would risk going to the ground with the jiu-jitsu ace. It took less than three and a half minutes for Maia to submit Sonnen. Munoz disagrees.
"I'm not afraid of the ground game," Munoz said (5:30 mark). "I'm confident when it goes to the mat. I'm definitely going to take the fight where I want and we're going to fight on my terms."
Maia's win over Sonnen was startling. Once he got a hold of Sonnen, he tossed him over his head and fell into the mount where he transition to a triangle. Munoz said there was more to the story. Sonnen explained that he had been hit just a few seconds before and was stunned, which allowed Maia to ragdoll him so easily.
Using advice Sonnen gave him, Munoz just wants to be careful in the clinch and especially if he has top control.
"You just gotta have to be able to posture and not keep your head down so low to be able to get hit," Munoz said. "For me, I drop bombs. That's what I do. Demian knows that."
Munoz (10-2, 7-2 UFC) has been drilling his jiu-jitsu for the last few years with a bevy of Brazilians at Blackhouse MMA in the Los Angeles area. For this camp, Junior dos Santos and the Nogueiras were down in Brazilian, so Munoz had to change things up.
At his own gym, Reign Training Center in Lake Forest, Ca., he worked with Jason "Mayhem" Miller. He also has a partnership with King's MMA in Huntington Beach, Ca., and got to work with Mauricio Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Fabricio Werdum.
Meanwhile, Maia worked with Blackhouse's new gym in San Diego. At times, that kind of crossover can irk fighters, but Munoz was far from insulted.
"It's a tangled web we weave, training with certain guys. If you're training with the right guys, you're going to end up fight people or people you know of or the friends of your training partners," Munoz said (8:04 mark). "At the same time, it's one thing to tell somebody that they have something, but it's a whole different thing to actually do it and execute it inside the Octagon."
Surprisingly, Munoz is a minus-130 favorite over Maia. The Filipino has won two straight and 5-of-6 while Maia (14-2, 8-2 UFC), has looked less than stellar recently as he's looked to showcase his striking more in decision wins over Kendall Grove and Mario Miranda.
Check out Larry Pepe from ProMMA.com and Damon Martin from MMAWeekly,com as we break down the Munoz-Maia fight from the betting perspective.
You can watch UFC 131 right here on Yahoo! Sports
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