Tyron Woodley: Getting ready for Demian Maia at UFC 214 made me a better fighter

LOS ANGELES – Tyron Woodley may not be in love with the process he had to put himself through in order to get ready for his Saturday title defense against Demian Maia, but he appreciates the result.

Woodley (17-3-1 MMA, 7-2-1 UFC) puts his welterweight title on the line against Maia (25-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) in the UFC 214 co-main event, which takes place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FXX and UFC Fight Pass.

The camp was a short one for both fighters. But because of Maia’s prowess as one of the sport’s all-time great jiu-jitsu practitioners, Woodley had to tailor his training to be prepared to defend the Brazilian taking him down and draping the champion to look for a submission.

“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,” Woodley told MMAjunkie on Wednesday in Los Angeles at a news conference in support of the blockbuster card. “In hindsight, it actually made me a better martial artist.”

Word around the campfire before the fight was announced tended to drift toward Maia not being ready to fight for the title until later in the year, and that was a timetable that didn’t work for Woodley.

But ultimately, when the UFC called and told Maia the shot was his if he wanted it, even though his preparation had to be short and sweet, he took it.

“When we got the notice for the fight, five weeks before, I was kind of wondering (if I should take the fight),” Maia said. “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.”

Woodley won the welterweight belt a year ago by knocking out Robbie Lawler in the first round at UFC 201. In his first title defense, he fought to a majority draw with Stephen Thompson at UFC 205. In their rematch at UFC 209 in March, he won a majority decision.

Maia, who will turn 40 in November, is more than seven years removed from challenging Anderson Silva for the middleweight title. Since dropping to welterweight five years ago, he’s been exceptional with a 10-2 record, including seven straight to get his shot at the champ.

In his current streak, Maia has wins over Neil Magny, Gunnar Nelson, Matt Brown, former interim champ Carlos Condit and Jorge Masvidal, the latter coming at UFC 211 in May, giving him a quick turnaround to challenge for the belt. But those wins meant he wasn’t sneaking up on anyone.

“I was always open to this fight,” Woodley said. “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.”

For more on UFC 214, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.