A frustrated Tyron Woodley issues a warning to Demian Maia

A frustrated Tyron Woodley issues a warning to Demian Maia

Current UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is hoping to defend his title against top division contender Demian Maia at July’s UFC 214 event in Anaheim, California.

“The Chosen One” recently sat down with BJPENN.com’s Chris Taylor where he discussed the potential title fight with the Brazilian submission specialist and how Maia’s reluctance to accept the proposed scrap has him irritated.

Taylor asked Woodley if a fight with top division contender Demian Maia was still on the table for July’s UFC 214 event in Anaheim, California.

“Yea you know I was offered Demain Maia (for UFC 214) and I accepted the fight. A lot of people in our sport like to profess that they are ‘anywhere at anytime’ type of fighters.” Woodley said with a snicker. “But that turns out to be complete BS. A lot of those ‘anywhere at anytime’ people have not accepted the fight. They have been offered a fight with me and they haven’t accepted it. I mean here is a person who supposedly wants a title shot so badly, this after winning seven fights in a row. When you get a chance to prove you are the best in the world… You take the opportunity. You didn’t see Michael Bisping say ‘No I can’t take this fight on such short notice’. You haven’t heard someone who really wants to fight for the title say no.”

Woodley continued:

“I was offered Robbie Lawler on ten days notice in April of last year and I accepted it. I did that because I was the challenger and I was willing to give the respect to the champion and if that was the date that he and the promotion wanted me to fight him, then that is my date! You know, you have to take that moment when it comes. (As the challenger) You don’t set the tone. You don’t say ‘Oh I want to fight in October’ or “Oh I need a break’. If you think you’re the best in the world then you don’t need a break. It is just funny to me how all of these guys Conor (McGregor), (Michael) Bisping, Nate and Nick (Diaz), Georges (St-Pierre), all of them are ‘anywhere at anytime’ fighters until it comes to me. And then I am the one who gets the scrutiny when it is all said and done.”

Taylor asked Woodley why he thought Maia would be trying to postpone the title fight and suggested that maybe the recent rumors of the Brazilian being injured were true.

“What! Maia has got a hurt… Get out of here. He was in a grappling match. What did he hurt in that grappling match? I’m not trying to hate on his style. His style has obviously been very effective, that is why he’s been able to rattle off seven wins in a row. But he did not get in to a grueling ‘fight of the night’ type of war. He didn’t endure punishment and bad cuts or spilled blood. He had a fight that game plan wise and style wise was in his favor. He put Jorge Masvidal in to his jiu-jitsu world and won. So what does he need a break from?”

Woodley cited the fact that he has a busy schedule which includes offers both in and out of fighting. The welterweight champ issued a warning to Maia that he should reconsider the opportunity presented in front of him as you never know what could happen.

“I have seminar offers, appearance offers and even movie offers. All of that stuff gets squashed when I have a fight coming up. This (fighting) is what I do. This is who I am. So if this is not what he does and who he is then he needs to reconsider. Because in the end he could get passed over. I will find somebody else to fight. This guy isn’t injured. He is saying he needs a break. That is the funny thing. He is just saying that he needs a break. He says he wants to rest and then do seminars and go to international fight week and then take a vacation. Like dude, you can take a vacay when you have a belt around your waist. What he said motivates me because it tells me where his mind is at. He doesn’t even want to try for the title right now. So I’m going to be the guy who is going to retire him. If you look at my resume, I have been the guy who has made people think ‘maybe I don’t want to do this no more’, and Demain Maia is going to be the next one.”

Woodley told Taylor that he had a discussion with Demain Maia in person following his win over Masvidal at the UFC Athlete Retreat in Las Vegas.

“I told him (Maia), I said ‘Hey man, it looks like you’re up next bro.’ He’s like ‘Oh no I need to take a break,’ so I said ‘Man if you ain’t ready by this date then you will never be ready!’. I said ‘July 29, lets get this shit done,’ I told Maia that. All he wanted to talk about was this damn break. I mean dude, like just take a break when you retire. Seriously. When you’re telling me you want a break. You’re basically telling me you don’t want to be the champion. He doesn’t really want this. He doesn’t really want to be the champ. He’s not really about that life if he’s sitting there talking about how he needs a break. You don’t think I need a break? It’s crazy to me.”

Do you think Demian Maia will accept a fight with Tyron Woodley?