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Stephen Thompson Weighs In On Demian Maia’s Chances vs. Tyron Woodley

Demian Maia has won seven straight fights, and has cruised through several top contenders, but Stephen Thompson thinks the vaunted grappler’s in for a tough go against Tyron Woodley. Although a bout between Maia and Woodley has yet to be announced, Dana White has said that the Brazilian will challenge for the 170 title net. The […]

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Demian Maia has won seven straight fights, and has cruised through several top contenders, but Stephen Thompson thinks the vaunted grappler’s in for a tough go against Tyron Woodley.

Although a bout between Maia and Woodley has yet to be announced, Dana White has said that the Brazilian will challenge for the 170 title net. The UFC President made that pledge after Maia worked his way to a tightly contested, split decision win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 last month.

Well, Thompson knows a few things about Woodley, as the two have battled not once, but twice (the first bout was a majority draw, and Woodley took the rematch via decision). Recently “Wonderboy” was a guest on Submission Radio, and he was asked to weigh-in on Woodley – Maia. Here is some of what Thompson had to say (quotes via Bloody Elbow):

“Tyron is a very strong opponent,” Thompson said. “I mean, he’s proven he can go five five-minute rounds. But man, if Demian Maia gets a hold of him, it’s gonna be a rough night for Tyron. But I do believe that Tyron can send him off of those takedowns. He’s such a powerful guy, great wrestling, good takedown defense. Demian is definitely gonna have a hard time getting Tyron down, and that’s where the whole debacle is gonna be.”

“It could be a stand-up fight. I don’t know if Demian could get Tyron down or not. Maybe he can control him against the cage, but he’s so explosive and so powerful, I think Demian is gonna have a very hard time doing that. And plus, you’ve seen in the past with Demian in the later rounds he gets tired ‘cause he tries so hard to get his opponents down. And you saw the Demian Maia fight, even when he fought Matt Brown, the last round he was just done, you know, it took one hundred percent of him to try and get him down.”

Thompson certainly isn’t the only person to voice this opinion. As the highlight reel striker noted, not only is Woodley ridiculously strong, but he’s a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler. So, this is why, Woodley will likely be a sizeable favorite if and when the fight is finalized.

But, Maia did chain together some nice takedowns against Masvidal, who leading up to the bout, had argued his wrestling would play a key role in the fight. Now, Masvidal doesn’t have the wrestling pedigree of Woodley, but it is something to consider.

Thompson, meanwhile, continues to recover from knee surgery. The welterweight is hoping to return to the cage in September.

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Tyron Woodley Says GSP is The Best Fight For Him in Any Situation

Tyron Woodley knows Demian Maia should be next, but he’s still eyeing Georges St-Pierre. “The Chosen One” will defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title for the third time in the near future. Dana White told Maia he has the next shot, but promises don’t always hold true. With Georges St-Pierre seemingly out of […]

Tyron Woodley Goes Off On Georges St-Pierre For Targeting Michael Bisping

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It’s pretty clear now that the next title contender for the UFC welterweight title will be Demian Maia after he won his last bout at UFC 211 with a hard-fought split decision over Jorge Masvidal, which marks his seventh straight win. Although Maia has been very impressive as of late, UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley is just fine with fighting Maia. Woodley spoke about various topics on Monday’s edition on The MMA Hour and during the interview, he said that the UFC haven’t yet asked him about Maia but he is more than willing to fight Maia.

Now that the UFC has canceled their plans of booking current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping against former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Woodley is interested in fighting “GSP,” who claims he won’t be ready to fight until later this year.

“Georges St-Pierre is always going to be that, no matter the money, no matter the city,” Woodley said on The MMA Hour. “If it’s in freakin’ Montreal, if it’s freakin’ for $100,000. No matter what the situation is, that’s always going to be the best fight. He was the best in the world. If he’s still talking about competing, that’s always going to hang over my head. I can’t honestly say I’m the best welterweight in the world knowing that he’s still wanting to fight, so that’s going to take precedence over everything.”

St-Pierre’s timetable for a return was the reason for the UFC canceling the bout due to UFC President Dana White not wanting to wait on him anymore. Now, Bisping will defend the title against Yoel Romero. Woodley has been publicly chasing St-Pierre ever since capturing the UFC welterweight title in July 2016. Woodley admitted that wasn’t exactly excited about the prospect of facing Maia due to his lack of drawing power and style.

“An exciting fight, something I believe could produce my first rivalry maybe, my first back-and-forth press conference, is maybe a Nick Diaz,” Woodley said. “In my opinion, he’s a lineal top-five welterweight, what he’s done for the sport, how he actually got people excited about it. He was really just himself and that became an image, and I think he can do that everyday because that’s him, so I respect him, I respect what he’s done for MMA. That’s another fight that excites me. I just don’t see beating Demian Maia really putting another notch on my belt like those two guys would. Now, granted, he’s got what, 17, 18, 19 wins in the UFC? Something ridiculous. He took Anderson Silva to a decision. He rattled off seven victories in a row. Man, how do you do that type of stuff in silence? Think about it. It’s our sport. Our sport does not allow jiu-jitsu, the building block of the UFC — it has not allowed it to be great. It’s not respected. It’s not something that everyone wants to see. That’s how he’s been able to rattle off seven victories against top opponents and not get the credit. It’s not my fault. I didn’t do it.”

Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Woodley has called out both St-Pierre and Diaz in the past. Neither of those bouts were booked but with GSP back in the game, could suddenly become a possibility. However, Woodley believes that St-Pierre is simply avoiding him due to unfavorable stylistic match-up.

“I’m the best welterweight in the world and I feel like Georges St-Pierre should’ve fought me,” Woodley said. “He should’ve come back (to welterweight). Fighting Bisping, I think that was the cowardly move. He’s going to fight someone who doesn’t have the ability to concuss him like I would, or Johny Hendricks would, or Robbie Lawler would. That’s why he went (up in weight). If Stephen Thompson would’ve beaten me, I guarantee that his first fight back would’ve been against Stephen Thompson, a similar karate-style fighter that he’s probably seen a million times, he’s trained with him, he doesn’t have the one-punch KO power, he’s not going to submit him, he’s not going to stop his shot. It’s the safer fight for a big payday. So with that said, I just kinda raise my eyebrows, the fact that he would go up a weight class when there’s a willing, dominant champion that wants to take you on that’s excited about the fight. It surprised me, but hey, if it’s Demian Maia first or if it’s Georges St-Pierre first, everybody’s going to get it at the end of the day and I’m just excited to be where I’m at right now.”

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Demian Maia Fires Back At Tyron Woodley For Recent Criticism

Demian Maia may be the clear front-runner for a shot at the welterweight crown, but he’s still taking one more fight before that happens. Maia is currently on a six-fight win streak and is the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the world. After his dominant win over former interim 170-pound champ Carlos Condit it was expected

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Demian Maia may be the clear front-runner for a shot at the welterweight crown, but he’s still taking one more fight before that happens.

Maia is currently on a six-fight win streak and is the No. 3-ranked welterweight in the world. After his dominant win over former interim 170-pound champ Carlos Condit it was expected that the Brazilian would challenge for the title next – but that’s not the case.

Instead, Maia will take on No. 5-ranked Jorge Masvidal at the stacked UFC 211 pay-per-view (PPV) next weekend (Sat. May 13, 2017) from Dallas, Texas, a decision UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley referred to as ‘stupid’.

During a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Maia got the opportunity to respond to the welterweight champion’s comments, and blame’s a ‘lack of coherence’ for his outburst (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“He doesn’t know why I made this decision, he doesn’t know the kind of situation that went down,” Maia said. “So, it was an unfortunate comment. And, also, I see that pattern in him – he never knows if he wants to be a nice guy, or an arrogant guy, or a guy who promotes himself, or a good guy. He can’t go in one direction.

“I think this lack of coherence only hurts him. I think that’s why he’s a champion who doesn’t have a lot of charisma.”

With another win Maia expects to get the next shot at the welterweight throne, however, he’s not losing focus of the task at hand that approaches him next weekend:

“I think it is (the No. 1 contender fight), at least for me,” Maia said. “I think if I win, with seven wins in a row, (I deserve a shot). But I don’t know, because everything has been so crazy – we have no way of knowing.

“I want to see what happens, because I have this fight in front of me. I am no longer falling into this trap of losing focus on the fight. My title fight is next Saturday – that’s the most important thing. The rest is just consequence.”

Masvidal will certainly present the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist with some problems inside the Octagon, but after having 30 professional MMA fights under his belt, he believes there’s nothing he hasn’t seen before:

“I’ve fought many athletes who were strikers, and many fighters who defend takedowns well,” Maia said. “He has his specific features, of course, but it’s nothing I haven’t faced in my 30-fight career.”

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Kelvin Gastelum Has Win Overturned For Using Marijuana

It looks like Kelvin Gastelum’s recent run-in with USADA is going to cost him much more than it already has. According to a report from MMA Fighting, Gastelum has agreed to a plea deal with the Brazilian MMA Sports Court (STJDMMA) and will be fined 20 percent of his purse, be suspended for 90 days,

The post Kelvin Gastelum Has Win Overturned For Using Marijuana appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

It looks like Kelvin Gastelum’s recent run-in with USADA is going to cost him much more than it already has.

According to a report from MMA Fighting, Gastelum has agreed to a plea deal with the Brazilian MMA Sports Court (STJDMMA) and will be fined 20 percent of his purse, be suspended for 90 days, and have his original win over Vitor Belfort at March 11’s UFC Fight Night 106 overturned to a no contest after he failed an in-competition drug test for marijuana metabolites.

The potential violation already cost him by far the biggest fight of his career, as he lost a massive fight with legendary former champion Anderson Silva when the drug test failure was announced. It’s the latest in a long history of outside-the-cage failures for Gastelum, who is undoubtedly one of the brightest prospects in a stacked UFC 185-pound division.

But he essentially forced to move back up the class he originally won The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 17 at when he failed to make 170 on several occasions, including before bouts with Tyron Woodley and Donald Cerrone, the latter of which had to be called off prior to last November’s UFC 205.

Gastelum will allegedly face “aggressive sanction” if he fails another test for marijuana and is forced to go in front of the STJDMMA a second time according to Sedlmayer. The other side of the argument, of course, is that marijuana is absolutely not a performance-enhancing drug that should carry even close to the weight of failing a test for any kind of anabolic steroid, diuretic, estrogen blocker, or any truly performance-improving substance.

That’s the age-old debate in MMA, however, and fighters clearly know the rules regardless of how ludicrous the punishment may seen as of right now. Gastelum lost his biggest win and subsequently his biggest fight, and will now be forced to rebuild his name once again.

All for some marijuana.

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Demian Maia on Tyron Woodley: ‘He Never Knows if he Wants to be a Nice Guy’

Demian Maia has responded to Tyron Woodley’s comments on his decision to take a fight with Jorge Masvidal. Woodley, who is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title holder, recently said Maia’s decision to fight Masvidal at UFC 211 was “stupid.” Maia meets “Gamebred” inside the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on May 13. […]