Demian Maia focused on winning gold, not breaking records, at UFC 214
Demian Maia has a lot to fight for tomorrow night (Sat., July 29, 2017) at UFC 214 live on pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., when he takes on UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Not only is Maia getting just his second UFC title shot in his 10 years with the promotion, but the Brazilian grappling specialist is aiming to tie UFC records for most wins (20) and most submissions (10).
“This week I just tried to take this away from my mind because this will maybe make me lose a little bit of my focus, and I don’t want that,” Maia said during UFC 214’s open workouts media scrum. “It would be great if I win, especially by submission because of all these records. But records will be broken one day. The thing that will be mine forever is the belt. That’s why I’m going to do my best to get this belt on Saturday.”
Focusing on just winning the title will certainly bode well for Maia at UFC 214. Woodley is a beast of a champion and has never been submitted before, so looking for such a finish may only hurt Maia’s chances of capturing victory. Instead, the Brazilian veteran is putting his record-breaking aspirations aside and strictly setting his sights on UFC gold in effort to bring a belt back to his homeland.
“I just felt the last year it started to drop a little bit, the interest for MMA and the UFC (in Brazil),” Maia said. “I think one of the reasons is the lack of Brazilian champions. … I hope we get the belt, and we bring back this to Brazil. It’s so strong in our culture that I want that to keep strong.”
While Maia is the betting underdog entering his welterweight title fight at UFC 214, the 39-year-old contender is as dangerous as anybody in the division. Maia has dominated the likes of Carlos Condit, Jorge Masvidal, Matt Brown, Neil Magny, and Gunnar Nelson to get to this point, so maybe Woodley is just the next name on the list.
