Gray Maynard has never lost a professional fight. Frankie Edgar has one loss in his mixed martial arts career. That would be to Maynard in April 2008. So which guy will take the lightweight championship belt into the octagon with him in Las Vegas on Saturday in the headline bout of UFC 125? That would be Edgar, thank you...
Gray Maynard has never lost a professional fight. Frankie Edgar has one loss in his mixed martial arts career. That would be to Maynard in April 2008.
So which guy will take the lightweight championship belt into the octagon with him in Las Vegas on Saturday in the headline bout of UFC 125? That would be Edgar, thank you very much.
Edgar, who cemented his hold on the 155-pound belt with a win over B.J. Penn in UFC 118 this past August, isn't necessarily going into the bout with revenge on his mind, but . . .
"Yes, it's a rematch against someone I fought who beat me," Edgar said in a conference call with reporters just before Christmas. "Is it special because of it? Yes, I mean, I'm just approaching it as my next fight, my next title defense. The fact that he beat me and I get a chance to maybe get that one back, it does make it a little bit better."
That doesn't mean fight fans can expect a repeat of UFC Fight Night 13, which Maynard won via unanimous decision. A blow-by-blow account of that night left no doubt that Maynard won the battle, primarily with takedowns and solid hits.
"Of course, it was 21/2 years ago," Maynard, a state champ in wrestling in 1998 with St. Edward, told reporters. "Any time you're going up against the top of the world, you've evolved and changed, so I'm prepared for a new fight."
Just what will fans see?
"I don't know, man," said Edgar. "Gray's got great stand-up, he's got really great wrestling. But we haven't seen much of his jiu-jitsu like you haven't really seen much of mine. But I guess if there's any advantage [to Maynard], maybe it's speed, being that he's bigger."
At 5-8, the 31-year-old Maynard has a two-inch height advantage. But Edgar is two years younger, and already has fought a couple of five-rounders: his latest the title defense against Penn in August. This is the first time Maynard is scheduled to go five rounds.
That's why he's expanded his camp from eight to 12 weeks.
The fighters have similar strengths, with Edgar having an edge in striking and Maynard being the better at submissions. With that in mind, Maynard was asked whether he had done any "outside the box" training for the fight.
Well, yeah, he said:
"Two backflips and a handspring off the cage, then I'm going to do a roll and cut the weight."
Let's see Jenny Craig try that.