mma / News

Tyron Woodley Feels Bad For Demian Maia Not Getting a Title Shot Yet

March 2, 2017 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Tyron Woodley spoke with MMAjunkie for a new interview. Some highlights are below:

On Demian Maia not getting a title shot: “Part of me wants to feel bad and have compassion for Demian Maia. The other part of me – I’ve been in four No. 1 contendership fights. If Carlos Condit had beat me he would have immediately fought for a title shot. Rory MacDonald beat me, fought for a title shot. If Kelvin Gastelum beat me they said he would have fought for a title shot. So I’ve been in that position enough to know that he has to do something different for himself.”

On Maia: “Unfortunately the sport of mixed martial arts has turned to where the fans want to see you get knocked the hell out and cut open and get in these wars. They don’t respect his art. He’s one of the best grapplers in the UFC right now, and they don’t respect his art that he brings to the table. That’s not my job to go and promote him. I have a hard enough time promoting myself.”

On how Maia can get into title position: “The fans are really a little bit more in control than what they realize. If they want to see a fight there’s a good chance that fight will happen. If they have shown in pay-per-view buys and attendance and views and whatever, in social media posts, that they don’t really respect the grappler – we saw the same thing with Jake Shields. Jake Shields has victories over me, victories over Dan Henderson, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, and he’s a guy that people just didn’t like his style and want to watch. It’s mixed martial arts. No one says, ‘Hey, this guy is striking too much. Why don’t Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ go for a takedown? Why don’t he go for a submission? Why doesn’t he clinch against the cage. No, they want to see the striking. They want to see the creative spinning kicks and attacks and that’s what our society wants to see. So unfortunately for those guys they didn’t take the time to really perfect their striking. If I did the same thing I would have just been a wrestler, but I perfected my striking to the point where my wrestling is really in the back pocket.”