Demian Maia may only be a spectator for this weekend’s UFC middleweight title fight, but before long he could well find himself in a similar position challenging for a UFC belt.

The Brazilian welterweight has put a run of six victories together inside the Octagon and speaking yesterday at the UFC 204 Q&A session, Maia let it known that he has his targets set on obtaining the 170-pounds belt.

“I’m always just focused on the belt,” Maia said. I don’t care [about superfights], they asked me if they were to offer a lot of money to fight GSP [would I take it], but I don’t care about the money. I want to fight for the title.

“You have a mission in life to educate people. I believe that I have mission bring Jiu Jitsu to a bigger audience. That’s my mission because Jiu Jitsu really changes people’s lives and I want to bring more and more people. So, I’m not in this sport for the money.

“When I started as a kid there was no money involved. We started martial arts because we loved it and we didn’t care about the money. We’re professional and we need to be that, but my main reason is not the money. My main reason [for fighting] is to get the belt and that’s what I want to do.”

With Tyron Woodley defending his title against Stephen Thompson on November 12 at UFC 205, Maia was then asked if he’d be prepared to step in at short notice in the instance of an injury. As you can imagine, the Brazilian didn’t need to think twice about his answer.

“For sure I would step in,” Maia said. “Sometimes you have to take a chance and you might not get this chance again. If Wonderboy got injured or something like that I would be ready for sure.”

Having previously fought at 185-pounds, a fan then posed the question as to whether Maia would ever consider making the step back up at weight division. By this time, Maia had really started to reiterate a common theme in his answers and that he was after one thing and one thing only right now.

“Like I said, I ‘m just thinking about the welterweight title,” Maia said. “If were to come back to the middleweight division I think Silva would be a nice fight.

“I really like Bisping as the champion right now. Not just because of his history and the fact that he is a great fighter, but because it’s important to spread a sport and have the first British champion. It’s very important. Especially in a country like England and Great Britain that has such a long tradition in sports like boxing. It’s very important to have Bisping right now. So I’ve very glad for you guys and for him.”