Demian Maia Addresses His Title Loss at UFC 214

Speaking at the post-fight press conference for UFC 214, Demian Maia addressed his welterweight title loss in the co-main event to Tyron Woodley. Maia lost the fight by unanimous decision. This marks Maia’s second UFC title loss.
Below are some highlights from the press conference (transcript via MMAjunkie). You can check out our full report for UFC 214 HERE.

Maia on what’s next after his title loss: “Unfortunately for the guys in my division, I will keep going. I have more energy to burn. I want to keep going a little bit more. I don’t know. Let’s see what happens – they’re thinking about opening 165-, 175-(pound divisions). Let’s see. I never give up. I came to this fight on five weeks’ notice, and I leave this fight with my head up.”

Maia’s thoughts on wanting a longer camp: “Of course, if you think about probabilities, I think I would increase my probabilities to win the fight if I had more time. A longer camp. But I don’t want to complain. That was my chance and I accepted the chance. I came here. And I did what I needed to do.”

Maia on Woodley’s low center of gravity: “The other thing is that his gravity center is very low. And he’s really strong. It plays a role that makes him harder to take him down. I need to be very sharp to take him down. And he defended well. He defended the takedowns pretty well. I couldn’t do the variations that I usually down and take him down, or go to his back.

His thoughts on Woodley: “I have nothing but respect for him. Like I said, I don’t want to give any excuses. I just came there, I did my best and I lost.”

Demian Maia on the rules and the fence grabs: “It’s hard to say ‘if’s, but if I could take him down at least once, I knew that I had the chance to submit him or at least to make him really tired and hard to come back. But rules are rules. If he grabbed the fence once and the referee just gave a warning and didn’t deduct a point, that’s the rule. I have nothing to complain (about).”