Maia: Fight with Condit is for title shot

The biggest fights in the UFC are anything with Conor McGregor. Next biggest are title shots. And the third set it #1 contender fights.

If you know the winner of a fight is going to get a title shot, it adds to the excitement.

Demian Maia fights Carlos Condit in the main event of UFC on FOX 21 Saturday night. Maia is ranked #3 and Condit #4. UFC president Dana White has not declared it as such, but Maia is certain.

“This is for a title shot—the ticket for a title shot,” said Maia to Scott Harris for Bleacher Report. “It’s a fight between two guys; one is a former champ, and the other has five wins in a row.”

“I think you know we’re going to grapple. We’re going to the ground. He’s good there, but hopefully I’m able to impose my game.”

“I’m a fighter who is mainly a grappler, but I have a different style than other grapplers. I think my mindset is different. The new techniques are just evolving, and I look for that. I’m not just a jiu-jitsu player for jiu-jitsu, but for MMA.”

“I think true fans look for people who inspire them—not just inspire them like with [silly] stuff but truly inspire them. It’s what they’re looking for when they’re watching sports. It’s not just to beat somebody or make money, which was not even possible at the time I [started].”

The fight will be at five rounds, something Condit excels at, while Maia’s endurance is not as good as, for example, his Jiu-Jitsu. The fight was expected to be part of UFC 202, but in July moved to the five round main event at UFC on FOX 21. Maia is characteristically unperturbed.

“Training camp changed a little bit,” he said. “Follow-up after rounds, and duration of rounds, making me more prepared.”

The next title shot against division champion Tyron Woodley in fact appears to be going to Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson. And former division champion Georges St-Pierre lurks, somewhere.

But if Maia can beat Condit in spectacular fashion, he is absolutely in the mix.

UFC personality Joe Rogan breaks down the fight.