Demian Maia has turned things around after losing back-to-back fights for the first time in his career.

Maia (21-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) won his third straight fight with a second round submission of Neil Magny (15-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at UFC 190. Possibly more important than picking up the victory was that the jiu-jitsu expert won by submission for the first time since October 2012 and only the second time since February 2009.

Maia used strikes to create the opening for the submission, something that he says he’s been working on since his last fight.

“It’s just something that I was developing,” Maia told MMAjunkie following his victory. “My last fight, against (Ryan) LaFlare, I wasn’t hitting too much when I was in dominant position. I knew if I was able to hit a little bit harder my opponent would open space. I couldn’t do it in the last fight but this fight I trained for it and it worked.”

The Brazilian entered UFC 190 ranked No. 6 at welterweight in the official UFC rankings. While a title shot isn’t likely in his immediate future, Maia has his eye on a second chance to fight for a UFC title.

Maia lost to Anderson Silva in a bid for the UFC middleweight title at UFC 112. Now, at welterweight, he fights in a division where Robbie Lawler (26-10 MMA, 11-4 UFC) holds the title.

The prospect of a fight with Lawler is intriguing to Maia, but he isn’t taking the hypothetical fight lightly.

“(The fight would be) pretty tough,” Maia said. “Of course, he’s tough. He’s experienced, he’s not young. He has a lot of experience. What he did to Rory (MacDonald at UFC 189)? Rory’s great. I fought him, I know he’s great. And he was winning the fight and Robbie was able to pull the win in the last round. Robbie is a guy with big heart, he’s hard to take down, heavy hands, he deserves to be a champion. I wish I can fight him one day for the title.”

Maia also sees the ground as his path to victory in a potential bout with Lawler, not having any interest in trading punches with the hard hitting champion.

“In my case (the ground is) the only way,” Maia said. “I’m not going to exchange punches. His hands are too heavy. You see what he did in his last fight. He’s tough. He has a big heart and it’s hard to take him down. But if I’m able to take him down I know I can win. I can do that to pretty much anyone in the division.”

For complete coverage of UFC 190, check out the UFC Events section of the site.