As he stands on verge of UFC history, Neil Magny hopes new mark gets him big fights

Neil Magny

RIO DE JANEIRO – Neil Magny will very likely buck a longstanding UFC trend if he manages to emerge victorious against Demian Maia this Saturday at UFC 190.

A win for Magny (15-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) would mark his eighth consecutive successful performance inside the octagon. Three others in modern UFC history have reached that mark, and all of them were rewarded with a championship fight.

Despite the fact Maia (20-6 MMA, 14-6 UFC) is a well respected competitor who has challenged for UFC gold in his own right, the stacked nature of the UFC welterweight division means Magny will be forced to further beef up his resume.

The likes of Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley are all gunning for an opportunity to challenge 170-pound titleholder Robbie Lawler. Magny said he knows he won’t leapfrog that list of names with a win over Maia, but he said he could at least join the discussion.

“With a win over Maia there’s only four guys ahead to fight: that’s Carlos Condit, Johny Hendricks, Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler,” Magny told MMAjunkie. “I feel like a win over Maia puts me in contention to fight one of those guys and eventually go for a title.”

UFC 190 takes place Saturday at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Magny vs. Maia is the featured FOX Sports 1 preliminary bout prior to the main card on pay-per-view.

Magny’s recent success has come as somewhat of an unexpected surprise. The 27-year-old began his UFC career with two losses in three fights and was mostly dismissed as a factor in the weight class.

That all changed at the start of 2014. Magny found his groove and reeled off a record-tying five UFC victories in a calendar year. His momentum spilled over into 2015, because he’s already earned two more wins to push his streak to seven.

“The biggest thing (I’ve changed) overall is just me letting go of things I can’t control,” Magny said. “I was so worried about things outside the cage and outside of fighting that I changed the way I was thinking. I have more faith that everything is going to work out in the end and just let go of my other fears and focus on it one fight at a time.

“Every fight I go in, the key to success is to fight my fight and it will work out. I look to break the guy and that’s never going to change no matter who is put in front of me”

It’s not going to be an easy task to “break” Maia. The Brazilian is one of the sport’s most prominent grapplers with an invaluable amount of experience against championship-level names such as Anderson Silva, Chris Weidman, Rory MacDonald, Chael Sonnen and more.

Maia has only been stopped inside the distance once in his career. That defeat took place in 2009 and he hasn’t suffered a similar fate since. Magny, though, said he’s determined to put Maia away within 15 minutes and send a message to the rest of his weight class.

“Everyone waits for the opportunity to go face the king of the jungle and become the king of the jungle and I feel like this is that kind of fight,” Magny said. “My chance to challenge a guy who is well known, a guy who is a veteran and show people I’m at the top of my division.”

Although Maia is rapidly approaching his 38th birthday, Magny said he still views him as an elite competitor. Every fighter has a different expiry date, and Magny doesn’t believe Maia has hit his quite yet.

“I think he’s definitely in his prime; he’s still a dangerous guy,” Magny said. “He’s on a two-fight winning streak and has only lost to guys who either fought for the belt or had the belt. He’s definitely not a pushover and not a guy who is fighting past his prime. He’s still dangerous and a very tough opponent.”

Magny is a former training partner of champion Lawler. They spent time together at Matt Hughes’ former gym, The H.I.T. Squad, and put in many hours together in the training room. Magny said he would have zero hesitation fighting Lawler and is actually quite curious to see how the two would fair more than five years after parting ways.

“Seeing where (Robbie’s) at now allows me to believe I’ve grown as well in the past five years since we trained together,” Magny said. “I spent 2008 to 2010 training with Robbie Lawler at The H.I.T. Squad, so I’m definitely a different fighter, too. and I would like to see what happens when he and I go at it.”

A matchup with Lawler is one of Magny’s long-term goals. His short-term strategy, however, is focused on defeating Maia. Magny said he’s not going to beg the UFC for a title shot, but he hopes historical trends will speak louder than any statement he could make.

“It’s one of those things that helps speak for me; I’m not a guy who really gets on the mic and calls people out,” Magny said. “My actions of winning eight in a row come Saturday is going to speak louder than anything I could ever say. That’s going to carry me hopefully to a title shot.”

For more on UFC 190, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.