Tyron Woodley Says UFC 214 Preparation Made Him A Better Fighter

In an interview with MMA Junkie, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley (17-3-1 MMA, 7-2-1 UFC) said training for his UFC 214 fight with Demian Maia (25-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) made him a better fighter. It happens Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The main card will air on PPV after preliminary fights on FXX and UFC Fight Pass. Here are highlights:

On preparing for Maia: “I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and say that I enjoyed someone jumping on my back and constantly defending shots, but that’s what you do. In hindsight, it actually made me a better martial artist.”

On wanting the fight: “I was always open to this fight. It’s not like he won seven fights in a row and he came by surprise, like I didn’t know he was coming up. I wouldn’t say that’s 100 percent factual that I wasn’t interested in fighting him. I just wanted to fight. I didn’t want to take a break. I didn’t want to wait until the end of the year. And I feel like as a challenger, you step up when you fight. That’s why we’re fighting Saturday.”

Maia on taking the title shot on five weeks’ notice: “When we got the notice for the fight, five weeks before, I was kind of wondering (if I should take the fight). But then we talked and said, ‘This could be the only chance we have; let’s take this chance.’ Thanks to God, I’m very good – the camp went very well.”