Demian Maia’s five straight wins since May 2014 are tied for the most in the UFC welterweight division and he’s the only one who seems to notice.

No. 1 contender Stephen Thompson has won five in that time and is riding a seven fight win streak into his first title shot against Tyron Woodley. 

Former champion Robbie Lawler was rolling on a five fight win streak of his own before relinquishing the belt to Woodley at UFC 201 on July 30.

Woodley has won three straight, Canadian Rory MacDonald has won two of his last four, Johny Hendricks has two consecutive losses, and Maia’s next opponent Carlos Condit is 1-1 heading into their matchup at UFC on Fox: Maia vs. Condit in Vancouver, British Columbia.

What separates these welterweight contenders from Maia is that each one has fought for the welterweight belt at least once since May 2014.

Despite five dominant performances, three unanimous decisions and two rear-naked choke submissions, Maia hasn’t been able to get his shot at gold. The Brazilian has fought for a UFC championship just once in his nine years with the organization - for the middleweight title vs. Anderson Silva in April 2010.

“I was a little bit frustrated right after my fight against Gunnar [Nelson], and it was my fourth win in a row, and then right after my fight against Matt Brown I thought I was going to get it [title shot],” Maia told TSN.ca. “I didn’t so I was a little bit frustrated but right now, once they set up this fight against Carlos, I know that’s the most important thing in my life right now and I don’t want to waste energy with that frustration and the guessing.”

As others have passed him by on their way to a title shot, Maia has gone about his business with each passing fight. His run of five straight victories began after losing a decision to MacDonald at UFC 170 in February 2014.

After kicking off the streak with a unanimous decision victory over Alexander Yakovlev, he handed up-and-comer Ryan LaFlare his first loss in 12 professional fights, choked out Neil Magny midway through the second round, manhandled Icelandic star Gunnar Nelson on the ground and earned two 10-8 rounds from two of three judges, and most recently submitted Matt Brown with less than a minute to go in the final round of their contest at UFC 198 in May 2016.

His results can’t be critiqued, but what has been a knock against Maia is that his fights aren’t all that exciting. In a world where flashy knockouts rule the cage, Maia knows his style is an acquired taste.

“Some people don’t appreciate the grappling game, but some people they love it, and I have fans that love that and fans that don’t like it, so when you’re talking about mixed martial arts as a sport, you’ve got to have all kinds of fighters - the fighter, the grappler, the jiu-jitsu fighter - because you’re going to have fans for everybody,” he said. 

“I don’t think people just want to see one thing. It’s very complicated to say that everybody, every MMA fan is the same and everyone thinks the same. There’s all kinds of fans and all kinds of people who watch MMA and there is a space for everybody. You’re going to have to have all kinds of fighters and all kinds of styles and it’s just how we present that to the public that will make it more nice or not.”

Should Maia defeat Condit, in any fashion, the UFC will be hard pressed to ignore him again.

But Condit is no pushover. The former champion and top contender is a long and vicious striker who will pose considerable matchup problems for a much smaller and stylistically opposite opponent. Even if Maia can find a way to implement is superior grappling game, he admits that Condit is a very capable jiu-jitsu artist.

“He has a long reach, so he’s a hard guy to get close [to]. Plus he’s very dangerous with his striking, his kicks, his punches, his knees. He does everything. You know some guys, they just box and leg kick … but Carlos is a guy, he does everything and he’s a good jiu-jitsu fighter as well,” Maia said. “There’s a lot of challenges in this fight but that’s what I like about this fight.”

It’s a golden opportunity for Maia, literally.