UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley recently threw some shade at Demian Maia for accepting a fight with Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211.
Upon hearing the comments from the welterweight kingpin, the Brazilian submission specialist had a few comments of his own to share.
“He doesn’t know why I made this decision, he doesn’t know the kind of situation that went down,” Maia told MMA Junkie. “So, it was an unfortunate comment. And, also, I see that pattern in him – he never knows if he wants to be a nice guy, or an arrogant guy, or a guy who promotes himself, or a good guy. He can’t go in one direction. I think this lack of coherence only hurts him. I think that’s why he’s a champion who doesn’t have a lot of charisma.”
Maia and Woodley have never met in their respective MMA careers, but a win for Maia could put him next in line for a title shot.
The Brazilian does agree with something that UFC 211 opponent Jorge Masvidal said, which was the winner of this fight should get a title shot.
“I think it is (the No. 1 contender fight), at least for me,” Maia said. “I think if I win, with seven wins in a row, (I deserve a shot). But I don’t know, because everything has been so crazy – we have no way of knowing. I want to see what happens, because I have this fight in front of me. I am no longer falling into this trap of losing focus on the fight. My title fight is next Saturday – that’s the most important thing. The rest is just consequence.”
UFC 211 takes place on Saturday, May 13 from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas with Stipe Miocic and Junior Dos Santos headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
