UFC 211 results: Demian Maia tops Jorge Masvidal, earns shot at welterweight title

Maia did what he had to do to get his shot at welterweight champ Tyron Woodley

Moments after securing his seventh straight victory inside the Octagon on Saturday, top welterweight contender Demian Maia walked up to the cage for an impromptu heart-to-heart with UFC president Dana White.

"I said to Dana, seven [wins] in a row, I want to fight for a title," Maia said. "He said, 'You got it.'"

Maia, 39, secured a second shot at UFC gold by controlling Jorge Masvidal on the ground over three rounds to claim a split decision at UFC 211 in Dallas. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend, who lost a middleweight title shot to Anderson Silva in 2010, improved to 10-2 since moving down to welterweight in 2012.

Now, Maia (25-6) will begin preparing for current 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley.

"Finally, thank God," Maia said, while pointing upward. "It's just a dream come true and you know I have been working so hard."

Two of the three judges on Saturday preferred Maia's control on the ground to the late striking of Masvidal (32-12) after three largely uneventful rounds. Maia was stuffed repeatedly on takedown attempts but remained relentless enough to take Masvidal's back and dictate control of the fight.

"I thought [Masvidal] was easy to take down [coming in] and actually he's one of the best jiu-jitsu fighters that I ever fought in the UFC," Maia said. "But I thought I was winning because he didn't really dominate standup. It wasn't even on the ground and I was totally dominating so I thought it was alright."

Maia took Masvidal's back in Round 1 and stayed there for much of the round despite the fact that Masvidal worked the fight to his feet. But in the closing seconds, Masvidal worked free and landed a series of flush punches on the ground.

That proved to be the last of exciting action, however, as the fight devolved from there to Maia constantly avoiding strikes in order to set up takedown attempts. But a key takedown midway through the final round appeared to ultimately win him the fight, as Maia took Masvidal's back and stayed busy enough to avoid the action being restarted.

Despite the improvements Maia has made to his standup game as a welterweight, he remains one of the UFC's last elite fighters who are largely one-dimensional. It will be interesting to see how his jiu-jitsu matches up against the well-rounded Woodley, who has added vicious striking to his strong wrestling base.