Demian Maia hasn’t had it easy as of late.
Despite being on a six-fight winning streak and submitting the likes of Carlos Condit and Matt Brown, Maia still hasn’t been given a welterweight title shot. In fact, he has been booked to face Jorge Masvial at UFC 211 on May 13.
During a recent interview with Flo Combat, Maia said the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) changed their mind on granting him a title shot before taking another fight:
“I did not change anything in my head, it changed in the head of the UFC. (The UFC) said I would have to take this fight to be able to fight for the title. I had an option, which was to accept the fight if I wanted to fight for the belt (after that), and I accepted. Who decides who will fight for the title is the UFC, so from the moment the UFC says [so] you need to stay active to fight for the title.”
Maia admitted his opinion on UFC President Dana White changed after his latest situation, but he didn’t feel comfortable going into details.
“I’d rather not comment on that. He’s still my boss, and I’m involved in the events that are happening too much to comment on these things yet. I’m still an athlete. I’m going to show up and do my job.”
