Demian Maia Taking ‘Wait and See’ Approach to His Next Fight

Demian Maia spoke with MMAjunkie for a new interview. Highlights are below:

On watching the Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson fight: “When you’re watching the fight cageside, you’re not too rational. The fourth round was really exciting. Both went to a war, and it was crazy. But the first three rounds and the last round were not so exciting, so I thought the UFC was not going to do the rematch. But Eduardo (Alonso), my manager, he was by my side, and he said ‘They’ll maybe do it,’ because he knows how their minds work. And he was right. They were talking right after the fight about a rematch.”

On his next fight: “First, they need to do the rematch. Let’s see if they will do the rematch or not. If they really want to do the rematch, then we can think about another fight. But if I did fight again, it would be great to fight in the same card as ‘Wonderboy’ (Thompson) and Woodley. Because maybe if somebody gets hurt I can jump in, or even if nobody gets hurt, we are in the same cycle. I didn’t lose my confidence that I can be the next. I’m a fighter, and I never give up. Let’s see if they really will do the rematch, and when they book the rematch, then we’ll think about the next step.“

On a possible fight with Anderson Silva: “Anderson in a catchweight would be interesting because I think it’s a fight people would like to see. That was the fight I remember the most in my life. It was very important for me. After that fight, I changed as a fighter. And a catchweight would be good because even if I lose I don’t think it will interfere too much with my welterweight division. Cerrone asked to fight me, and if he thinks he can beat me, let’s do it. Let’s do it (but) not now. Let’s do it if they don’t book my fight for the title.”

On Conor McGregor possibly fighting at welterweight: “I don’t think he’s going (to move up). I don’t think it’s very smart to do that. The guys are way too big for him. He’s a great fighter. He proved that in the last fight. His distance control reminded me of Anderson in his prime. But I think he wouldn’t go up. He has more interesting fights to do. He’s asking about (Floyd) Mayweather in boxing. He could do a rematch with Nate. He can defend his title against (Jose) Aldo (interim featherweight champ) or Khabib (Nurmagumedov, lightweight contender), so I don’t think he will go up.”

On who will get the next shot: “Let’s see what’s going to happen. The good thing about that is that everybody is talking about our division now. Everybody’s talking about a rematch. Everybody’s talking about Demian being next and what’s going to happen, so I think this division right now is the most competitive division.”