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UFC 214 is shaping up to be the biggest card of the year, with a third championship fight added today.
UFC welterweight titleholder Tyron Woodley will put his belt on the line against Demian Maia at the July 29 event, which takes place at Honda Center in Anaheim. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
“The Chosen One” announced the fight on today’s edition of “UFC Tonight” on FS1.
Woodley (17-3-1 MMA, 7-2-1 UFC) vs. Maia (25-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) joins the light heavyweight title headliner between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, as well as the vacant women’s featherweight title affair between Cristiane Justino and Tonya Evinger.
The contest will mark the third title defense for Woodley, No. 1 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, after he retained the gold twice in a pair of fights with Stephen Thompson. After winning the belt with a first-round knockout of Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 in July, Woodley put his belt up for grabs against “Wonderboy” at UFC 205 in November.
The bout went to a controversial majority draw, which went into the books as a title defense for Woodley. The pair ran it back at UFC 209 in March, with Woodley winning a majority decision in a slow-paced affair.
Woodley now moves on to the next challenger, with No. 5-ranked Maia bringing a divisional best seven-fight winning streak into the contest. He most recently picked up a split-decision win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 211 in May, solidifying his shot at the gold.
The Brazilian has challenged for a UFC title once before, losing a decision to Anderson Silva at 185 pounds at UFC 112 in April 2010.
With the addition of the title fight, the latest UFC 214 lineup now includes:
- Champ Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones – for light heavyweight title
- Cristiane Justino vs. Tony Evinger – for vacant women’s featherweight title
- Champ Tyron Woodley vs. Demian Maia – for welterweight title
- Andre Fili vs. TBA
- Jason Knight vs. Ricardo Lamas
- Renan Barao vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Alexandra Albu vs. Kailin Curran
- Josh Burkman vs. Drew Dober
- Dmitrii Smoliakov vs. Adam Wieczorkowski
- Jarred Brooks vs. Eric Shelton
- Jimi Manuwa vs. Volkan Oezdemir
- Sage Northcutt vs. John Makdessi
- Renato Moicano vs. Brian Ortega
- Sara McMann vs. Ketlen Vieira
For more on UFC 214, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
