Demian Maia Reveals UFC Offered Him Huge Fight
After their amazing title clash in the co-main event of UFC 205 last week (Saturday November 12, 2016), UFC welterweight champion ‘The Chosen One’ Tyron Woodley and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson may be meeting inside the Octagon for the 170-pound title once again, as their Madison Square Garden brawl ended in a draw.
One man who will be forced to wait for a shot at welterweight gold of his own is jiu-jitsu whiz Demian Maia, who is currently riding a highly impressive six-fight win streak against the elite of the UFC’s 170-pound weight class. Maia recently spoke to MMA Fighting in Brazil, however, to reveal that the UFC has actually offered him a fight with former champ ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler to pass some time while he waits for the situation with Woodley and Thompson to sort out:
“They offered me Robbie Lawler, actually they offered not me but Eduardo my manager, yesterday. I don’t understand what is happening because Dana said right after the fight that I could — that I was next, I could wait if they do the rematch with Woodley and ‘Wonderboy’ — sit and wait or get another fight. I don’t understand what’s happening. I believe in Dana’s words, also ‘Cowboy’ says he needs to fight me. So first they need to do the rematch.
“Let’s see if they do the rematch or not. If they really want to do the rematch, okay we can think about another fight, but if we need to fight again it would be great to fight on the same card as ‘Wonderboy’ and Woodley, because maybe somebody got hurt and I can jump in or even if nobody gets hurt we are in the same cycle.”
One fight that does interest Maia is a rematch from over six years ago, where the Brazilian suffered a unanimous decision loss to the great Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva for the middleweight title at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. Maia would want the bout to be at a catchweight, however, as he does not want a potential loss to ‘The Spider’ to affect what he has going on at welterweight:
“Anderson at a catchweight would be interesting because I think it is a fight people would like to see. That is the most fight that i remember most in my life, after that fight I changed as a fighter and a catchweight would be good because even if I lose I don’t think it would interfere too much in my welterweight division. And ‘Cowboy’ also, Cerrone, he asked to fight me so if he think he can beat me let’s do it. Let’s do it, not now, let’s do it if they don’t book my fight for the title.”
If Maia does indeed decide to wait for his title shot, he may be waiting for a while as UFC featherweight and lightweight champ Conor McGregor has found his way into the conversation for possible welterweight title challengers who are next up for Woodley. With Thompson also in the mix alongside Maia, the UFC’s 170-pound title picture is beginning to shape up rather interestingly.
Who do you think is next in line for a shot at welterweight gold?
You can check out Maia’s full interview with MMA Fighting here:
