Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone wants to do something new. He fights Kelvin Gastelum on Saturday at UFC 205 in his fourth fight of 2016. He also fought four times in 2015, 2014, and 2013. This year, he wants to make it five, and he has an opponent in mind and a date.

Cowboy wants to close out 2016 by fight Demian Maia at UFC 207 on December 30, 2016 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The traditionally massive card is headlined by Ronda Rousey vs. women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.

“What I really want to do and what would make the most sense is Demian Maia,” said Cerrone toDave Doyle for MMA Fighting. “See if Demian would be ready to fight on Dec. 30. That makes sense for sure. He’s out there kicking ass, so that’s who I want to fight.”

“He’s probably the guy to fight next for the title, right? He’s out there crushing everybody. You see what he’s doing to people, I like it. Bring it on.”

Maia is on a six-fight win streak, with submission in three of his last four, and performance bonuses in two of the last four. UFC president Dana White was the first to dampen down talk about a Cerrone vs. Maia fight.

“[White] says I’m crazy. He said ‘get through this one first and I’ll talk, kid.’”

Now Maia has said, respectfully, no thank you.

Corrine is a great fighter, very tough, and has been very active. I respect that a lot, wrote Maia to Jonathan Shrager for The UnderGround. But right now, and I’m sure everybody knows, my only focus is to fight against the winner of Wonderboy and Woodley.

I’m going to New York this week for UFC 205, and I really hope to get my title shot confirmed. When you look at all I did in this weight class, what most guys other than Wonderboy had to do to get a title shot and who’s left after 305, I don’t really see how I’m not deserving of a chance.

I just turned 39, and although I’m still improving as a fighter, I know I can’t just wait forever.