Woodley: Damn that was stupid of Maia to take Masvidal fight
Tyron Woodley: “Why would you put yourself up against the worst possible matchup outside of a title fight?”
UFC welterweight Demian Maia is on a six-fight win streak, earning two performance bonuses on the way. Now that division champion Tyron Woodley and #1 challenger Stephen Thompson have sorted out their differences, Maia should finally get a long overdue title shot. However, Mai is scheduled to fight the extremely dangerous Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 next week.
During a recent appearance on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Woodley said that Maia should have waited. And given Masvidal’s takedown defense, distance management, and striking power, Woodley is not sure Maia wins it.
Unfortunately for Maia, he accepted the fight the week of me and Wonderboy’s fight,” said Woodley, as transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting. “In my personal opinion, bad move. Wait and see how the fight went. If nobody came out of the fight hurt, a clear winner, not another draw, you’re already in a position to fight for a world title. Why would you put yourself up against the worst possible matchup outside of a title fight? Why would you put yourself in that position?
I don’t want to call him stupid but damn that was stupid.
It’s a lot of fighters that say, ‘I’ll fight anybody, anytime, anywhere,’ but they really don’t mean that. If Conor McGregor wanted to fight me, he has an opportunity to do so. So does Bisping. So does Georges St-Pierre. So does Nick Diaz. So does Nate Diaz. all these guys got a chance to step up to the plate but ain’t nobody picked up the bat.”
If I fight [Maia], he’s getting knocked out. He ain’t getting no takedown. It’s a sprawl, it’s a knockout.
Woodley’s next fight is not yet signed.