Tyron Woodley empathizes – to an extent – with Demian Maia's UFC title shot snub

LAS VEGAS – The outrage was noticeable when it was announced that UFC welterweight contender Demian Maia would be required to accept another fight before he challenges for UFC gold.

Unfortunately for Maia (24-6 MMA, 18-6 UFC), the man who currently rules the 170-pound division, champ Tyron Woodley, isn’t among those upset by the fact the Brazilian won’t be guaranteed the next crack at the winner of Saturday’s UFC 209 championship showdown between Woodley (16-3-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC) and Stephen Thompson (13-1-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC).

Why is that? Because despite the fact that Maia already had a strong argument for a title shot before being booked this week to fight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 in May, Woodley said he’d gone through a similar experience in his quest toward the belt and wasn’t given any breaks along the way.

“Part of me wants to feel bad and have compassion for Demian Maia. The other part of me – I’ve been in four No. 1 contendership fights,” Woodley told reporters at today’s UFC 209 open workouts. “If Carlos Condit had beat me he would have immediately fought for a title shot. Rory MacDonald beat me, fought for a title shot. If Kelvin Gastelum beat me they said he would have fought for a title shot. So I’ve been in that position enough to know that he has to do something different for himself.”

Although Maia holds the longest UFC winning streak among active fighters in the welterweight division at six, Woodley understands why the UFC brass isn’t itching to place him in a championship contest. Maia is arguably the most effective submission artist on the roster, but Woodley said his style isn’t necessarily conducive to what’s currently being sought for in a title challenger.

“Unfortunately the sport of mixed martial arts has turned to where the fans want to see you get knocked the hell out and cut open and get in these wars,” Woodley said. “They don’t respect his art. He’s one of the best grapplers in the UFC right now, and they don’t respect his art that he brings to the table. That’s not my job to go and promote him. I have a hard enough time promoting myself.”

If Maia can defeat Masvidal at UFC 211 it would be difficult to see what obstacles would further stand in the way of him getting a championship fight opportunity. The Brazilian has already done almost everything he possibly can to get a crack at the winner of the UFC 209 headliner, but Woodley said it doesn’t always boil down to what a fighter does in the octagon.

From Woodley’s perspective, it’s the fans of the sport who have a significant influence on which fighters contend for belts, and Maia’s style simply doesn’t translate to the casual fans tuning in to UFC events and purchase pay-per-views to see the blood and guts aspect of MMA.

Woodley entered the sport almost strictly as a wrestler but over the years has evolved a striking game, which has led to several knockout wins, including a first-round finish of Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 in July that won him the welterweight title.

Woodley is not suggesting Maia abandon the aspect of his game that has made him so successful, but he clearly thinks some sort of adjustment must be made to alter his fortunes and fight the winner of his bout with Thompson, which headlines the UFC 209 pay-per-view main card following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

“The fans are really a little bit more in control than what they realize,” Woodley said. “If they want to see a fight there’s a good chance that fight will happen. If they have shown in pay-per-view buys and attendance and views and whatever, in social media posts, that they don’t really respect the grappler – we saw the same thing with Jake Shields. Jake Shields has victories over me, victories over Dan Henderson, Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit, and he’s a guy that people just didn’t like his style and want to watch. It’s mixed martial arts.

“No one says, ‘Hey, this guy is striking too much. Why don’t Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ go for a takedown? Why don’t he go for a submission? Why doesn’t he clinch against the cage. No, they want to see the striking. They want to see the creative spinning kicks and attacks and that’s what our society wants to see. So unfortunately for those guys they didn’t take the time to really perfect their striking. If I did the same thing I would have just been a wrestler, but I perfected my striking to the point where my wrestling is really in the back pocket.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.