Author: By Thomas Gerbasi

Welterweight veteran Chris Lytle is a no nonsense fighter in the Octagon, so not surprisingly, he doesn’t mince words when it comes to rising crime rates among the youth of the United States.

“It’s no mystery, there is no ‘why is this happening?’” said Lytle. “You know why this happens. Kids need guidance, role models, and a direction to go in. When your mind is young, you see what you think is a really cool thing or what you aspire to be, and it could be a couple of things. It could be a guy in the gym showing boxing, or you could think an athlete is the greatest, and your mind can form around that and you can be successful. Or you can be around a bunch of guys selling drugs or in a gang, and your mind’s gonna conform to that. When you’re growing up there are a lot of different places where you can go, and it’s no secret that when people don’t find the right things to put their interest in, that’s when they go down the wrong path. And when you see a kid who doesn’t have a chance, that’s a horrible feeling, and you want to help.”

So he is.

Along with longtime trainers Pat McPherson (who is also a detective in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) and Keith Palmer, Lytle is involved in an initiative that will create the Indy PAL MMA program in Indianapolis, Indiana, to teach boxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu, as well as offer academic support and mentoring, at no cost.

“The PAL used to do the same thing with boxing back when I was a kid and a long time before that, and now we’re just trying to move that over to MMA and provide a place where these kids don’t have to pay money to do this,” said Lytle. “You can just come in and work with the Police Athletic League and they’ll provide them with trainers. Pat’s gonna be there, I’ll come in and teach them stuff, and one of my other coaches, Keith Palmer, will teach some boxing.”

The program already has a location secured, but to get the funds needed to provide equipment and other necessities, it has submitted a proposal to the Pepsi “Refresh Everything” campaign, which awards grants to worthy projects. This is certainly one of those.

“These young kids, they’re hungry to learn and they need something like this,” said Lytle, an 11 year MMA vet who also compiled a 13-1-1 pro boxing record. “A lot of them, they don’t have any place to go and nothing to do, and idle time is a bad thing because you’ve got nothing to do besides get in trouble. And they like the UFC, they want to do it, but they have no avenue. Now, when you can catch people’s eyes and get them to see the positive things, like maybe seeing me on TV and then in the gym and saying ‘I want that,’ boom, we could have saved 10, 20, 50 kids who decide that this is the avenue they want to take.”

And as Lytle points out, the Indy PAL MMA isn’t designed to create the next generation of fighters, though there have been plenty of notable fighters who have emerged from PAL programs over the years. It’s meant to give kids an outlet and a positive activity to participate in while teaching them lessons that go beyond learning the proper way to throw a 1-2 or hit a double leg takedown.

“I’ve always been very active in sports, and the older I get, it’s not necessarily the sports, but what the sports teach you,” he said. “In my opinion, sports teach you that the more work you’re willing to put into something, the better you’re gonna be and the more you’ll be successful. I remember growing up, there were some great athletes that were just so naturally gifted that they didn’t have to work as hard; they could just succeed at anything they tried. And you know what, when they got older and they graduated, they were not successful later on in life. They never learned the lesson. Look at who the best coaches are. It’s not the best athlete; it’s the guy who was the overachiever who became a decent player. And it’s because they knew every little facet of what you have to do to get there and how to work hard. I think sports show you that when you really work hard and when you dedicate yourself, it becomes ingrained in your mind and you’re gonna accomplish more than you ever thought you could, and it translates into other parts of your life, and not just sports.”

The Indy PAL MMA’s $50,000 Pepsi Refresh grant proposal is live through May 31 and supporters are encouraged to vote each day at http://www.refresheverything.com/indypalmma.

Supporters can also vote by texting 106352 to Pepsi (73774).

As this week’s episode begins, the tension continues to rise between Junior dos Santos and assistant coach Lew Polley, with dos Santos letting Polley know in front of the team that they will need to talk about the differing messages they are sending to the fighters.

Team Lesnar’s outlook is a little sunnier, even in spite of Clay Harvison’s injury, as Lesnar believes Len Bentley is the front runner to receive a berth in the Wild Card fight. But then Bentley injures his left knee during practice.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” said Lesnar, but luckily for Bentley, it’s only a dislocation.

And there is more good news, as it’s revealed that Harvison didn’t break his finger, he just dislocated it, allowing him to possibly stay in the competition.

As far as dos Santos and Polley is concerned, the heavyweight contender found out that Polley tried to go to the TUF house to see the fighters by himself, and after consulting with assistant coach Luiz Dorea, he makes the decision to ask Polley to leave the staff and the show.

In the first fight of this week’s episode, Team Lesnar’s Tony Ferguson will face Team dos Santos’ Justin Edwards. That leaves the final fight of the first round to be Chuck O’Neil of Team Lesnar against Zachary Davis of Team dos Santos.

In Ferguson-Edwards, Edwards comes out fast, swinging with both hands. He gets some shots in, but Ferguson weathers the attack well and begins getting his own strikes in when the pace slows a bit in the second minute. With a little over three minutes left, Edwards scores with a takedown, and Ferguson jumps right back up. The two continue to trade shots while standing, and then Edwards gets a second takedown with 90 seconds remaining. Here though, Edwards gets careless and he is caught by a right upkick to the head. He falls to the mat and Ferguson finishes him with strikes, forcing referee Josh Rosenthal to stop the exciting bout.

Next up is O’Neil vs Davis, and Davis opens up by getting O’Neil to the mat. The Team Lesnar product gets back to his feet, but the two remain locked up against the fence. Davis scores with close range knees, softening his foe up for another takedown. Eventually, O’Neil turns the tables and is able to get off some hard strikes from the top position, but Davis stays calm and sinks in a triangle choke that finishes the bout in the opening round.

After the fight, UFC President Dana White and the two coaches choose Edwards for the Wild Card spot, but since he was knocked out by Ferguson, the Nevada State Athletic Commission issued him a 90 day suspension, keeping him out of another fight on the show.

That leaves two spots, but White isn’t convinced that the fighters really want it, but after consulting with Lesnar and dos Santos, the final pick was to see Javier Torres face Chuck O’Neil.

Team dos Santos finishes up the first round 4-3. Here’s how the teams look:

Team Lesnar
Len Bentley – Eliminated on episode three by Ryan McGillivray
Charles Rader – Eliminated on episode four by Ramsey Nijem
Tony Ferguson 1-0
Clay Harvison 1-0
Chuck O’Neil – Eliminated on episode six by Zachary Davis. Will return for Wild Card
Chris Cope 1-0
Nordin Asrih – Eliminated on episode one by Shamar Bailey

Team dos Santos
Shamar Bailey 1-0
Ryan McGillivray 1-0
Javier Torres – Eliminated on episode two by Chris Cope. Will return for Wild Card
Ramsey Nijem 1-0
Zachary Davis 1-0
Mick Bowman – Eliminated on episode five by Clay Harvison
Justin Edwards – Eliminated on episode six by Tony Ferguson

For weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter, as well as fighter profiles, stay tuned to UFC.com.

Turn the Page. For fans of Bob Seger and Metallica, it’s just a great song from the archives. For Jason MacDonald, it became a representation of the life he was leading as an up and coming mixed martial arts fighter.

“I was out there busting my ass trying to fight my way into the UFC, and many times I was out on the road, in somebody else’s town, somebody else’s arena, and fighting for everything I could get,” he recalled. “It kinda felt that it (the song) was always a good description of what I was out there doing. Here I am, on the road again.”

It was a road filled with ups and downs and trying to juggle fighting with his family life and his job as a corrections officer at Bowden Institution in Alberta. It’s the kind of journey that can break those not strong enough mentally and physically to deal with it, but MacDonald, a pro since 1999, soldiered on, even while competing in venues far removed from the big shows he hoped to one day fight in.

“My first couple fights were in gyms where they took the sparring ring and set up some chairs around it, and that was back in the early days when the sport really was evolving and searching for an identity,” he said, but in October of 2006, seven years into his career, he got his shot as the foil for The Ultimate Fighter season three finalist Ed Herman.

MacDonald submitted Herman at 2:43 of the first round. Two months later he did the same thing to another TUF alum, Chris Leben, and he was off and running. All told, MacDonald fought ten times in the UFC Octagon from 2006 to 2009, but after losing three of four bouts against Demian Maia, Wilson Gouveia, and Nate Quarry, he was released from the organization.

He was 33 years old and forced to start over. He lost his first post-UFC bout to Travis Lutter six months after the Quarry fight, but then he ran off three wins on the Canadian circuit against quality opposition, and he was brought back to the Octagon to face prospect John Salter at UFC 113 in May of 2010.

Yet 2:42 into the bout, a freak fall by MacDonald caused him to break his left fibula and tibia and tear ligaments as well. It was a loss on his record, his 14th, but more devastating was that he might have fought his last fight. The timing was horrible as well, as January of 2011 was his deadline for returning back to his former day job after a five year leave of absence.

“I was disappointed that I had fought so hard to get back to the UFC and then to come away with a badly injured ankle and a loss on my record, I was extremely disappointed,” said MacDonald. “When you’re not healthy physically, you’ve got a lot of time to sit around and do some soul searching, and I was certainly asking myself that question – at 35 years of age, do I get healthy and put in the work and take another run at this thing, or do I take a step back, say ‘hey, it’s been a good run’ and call it a wrap?”

The questions engulfed his days, but slowly, good news began to creep back into his life.

First, if he decided to return to active duty as a fighter, he would get another shot in the UFC.

“That was huge,” he said. “Obviously after suffering the injury, if the UFC chose to let me go, it would have been a lot harder for me to get motivated to return to fighting and start that long journey back to the UFC. At the end of the day, I’m a professional fighter, and I don’t think anybody’s saying ‘okay, I’m happy just fighting in the minor leagues.’ Everybody’s aspiring to be at the top of the game and to be in the UFC, and I’m no different.”

Next, his warden extended his leave of absence by a year, giving MacDonald more time to pursue his fighting dreams. And finally, he began to become Jason MacDonald again, physically and mentally.

“I started to get off the crutches and eventually out of the cast, and I started walking on my own, running and then back to working out. And slowly I got back into mixed martial arts training, and you start to get healthier mentally as well, and start to get your confidence back and start believing in yourself again. Then you start to watch fights and get excited and get those butterflies in your stomach, and those are the things that told me that I was still very much a fighter and very much a competitor and that the fire was still burning inside me.”

He was back. But there was a catch.

“I put a stipulation in there that if returning to fighting meant that every morning I had to wake up and really struggle to get moving and really deal with a lot of pain and discomfort, I wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice,” said MacDonald, a married father of four. “I wasn’t going to handicap the rest of my life just to chase the dreams of what I wanted to do in fighting.”

A December 2010 bout was scrapped, but when it was announced that the UFC was going to Toronto to put on an event at Rogers Centre on April 30th, MacDonald was on the card, facing fellow veteran Ryan Jensen.

And “Turn the Page” led him into the Octagon for the biggest fight of his career.

“It brought back a lot of good memories and a lot of hard-fought victories of some of my first UFC fights,” said MacDonald. “I wanted to get back to what was working and what was familiar.”

But who could prepare for more than 55,000 fans roaring and cheering for you? Even a couple days after the event, MacDonald still struggles to find words to describe it.

“It all happened so fast,” he said. “I don’t know if I can really put words to the atmosphere that was there Saturday night. I never in a million years thought that I ever would be fighting or that mixed martial arts in general would be on that type of stage. Even going into the Bell Centre in Montreal, where the three biggest fights were prior to this, there seems to be an end to the people. (Laughs) At some point you can look and see where the people end. But on Saturday night, it was a never ending sea of people. Everywhere you looked, as high as you could look and in every direction you looked, there were thousands and thousands of people. And there were big screens, taller than some of the arenas we’ve fought in (Laughs), and it really was amazing.”

Once MacDonald stepped into the Octagon though, nothing mattered but Jensen, and in a stirring return to form, he submitted his opponent with a triangle choke in just 97 seconds.

“The one thing I told myself was that I fight best when I’m enjoying myself, I’m relaxed, and I’m having a good time. I said regardless of what happens out there tonight, I’m going to enjoy this moment. So from the moment they started my music to walk out, I was enjoying myself. I had a smile on my face and I was relaxed. Then I got to the Octagon, and when that door closes and Bruce Buffer takes over, it really is business as usual. I felt comfortable, and I knew that I was better than Ryan Jensen. I knew that I had faced better competition than Ryan Jensen, and if I stayed focused and fought my fight, I would come away with a good victory. Of course you can’t predict it happening that fast, but it went as planned.”

Now MacDonald can literally turn the page and get on with the next chapter of his fighting story.

“At this point in my career, I’m taking it fight by fight,” he said. “I’m realistic with where I’m at in my career and I’m not a title contender right now, but all of a sudden after this fight, I can kinda switch gears from fighting for my job and piece together some solid wins and try to make myself relevant again in the division.”

On May 28th, number one lightweight Gray Maynard will get another shot at Frankie Edgar’s UFC lightweight title in the main event of UFC 130. It will be the third meeting between the two, and the first since their classic five round draw in January. So how did Maynard get to this point in a little less than four years? It’s time to find out.

June 23, 2007 – TUF5 Finale – NC2 Rob Emerson

Fresh from The Ultimate Fighter 5, Gray Maynard made it to the semifinals, but fell short against eventual series winner Nate Diaz. A shot to avenge that loss would have to wait, but he did want to make a better impression on fight fans in his UFC debut against Rob Emerson than he did on the show.

What He Said: “To tell you the truth, I thought I looked like crap on the show. The one fight against Brandon (Melendez), I don’t know what happened there, and I just couldn’t wait to get back in the gym and train. I was back in the gym a couple days after the show ended, and it just felt good to be back training right, and I can’t wait to get back in there and prove that I’m a lot better than I was on the TV show.”

What We Said: Gray Maynard saw an apparent victory get snatched away in his bout against TUF5 teammate Rob Emerson, with the lightweight bout being ruled a no contest in the second round.  

Maynard dominated the bout with his ground attack, and by the end of the first round, Emerson limped back to his corner with injured ribs.  Looking to end things, Maynard jumped right in Emerson’s face early in the second and picked him up for a thunderous slam.  

Then things got cloudy, as Maynard put Emerson down hard on the canvas, prompting Emerson to tap out due to an aggravation of his rib injury. But after referee Steve Mazzagatti waved the bout off, apparently due to the tap, the verdict came back as a no contest, with the reasoning being that Maynard was knocked out by his own slam, rendering both fighters unable to continue.

“I know I wasn’t out,” said Maynard.  “He tapped and I thought it was over.”

What It Meant: Despite the No Contest, Maynard couldn’t have had a more dominant performance. It was the kind of showing he needed to get the bad taste of the TUF experience out of his mouth, and if not for bad luck, he would have immediately been 1-0 in the UFC.

September 19, 2007 – UFC Fight Night – KO1 Joe Veres

Nearly three months after the Emerson debacle, Maynard was back to face debuting Joe Veres. The former college wrestler was no match for “The Bully”

What He Said: “I just want the best guys. I want to see who’s good. Let’s fight.”

What We Said: TUF5 alum Gray Maynard finally got his first UFC win, but he didn’t stay around long to get it, landing his first left hook with a thud that dropped Octagon newcomer Joe Veres. Maynard pounced immediately and after a three punch combination, referee Mario Yamasaki wisely stepped in, halting the lightweight bout after just nine seconds.

What It Meant: It was a victory, Maynard’s first in the UFC, and it marked him as a legit 155-pound prospect. But his success with his fists made the former Michigan State University wrestler want to use them on an exclusive basis. And that’s all well and good, but not when you’re swinging wildly for the fences all the time.

January 23, 2008 – UFC Fight Night – W3 Dennis Siver

Maynard was like a lot of wrestlers turned MMA fighters. Once he got a taste of striking, he loved it so much that he neglected the other parts of his game. Against European standout Dennis Siver, he was about to get a lesson he needed to learn.

What He Said: “After my fight with Siver, I talked with (Randy) Couture, I got a coach – Gil Martinez – and they said ‘hey Gray, you’ve got to be a little more smart.’ So I was like ‘all right, you guys are the bosses. I’ll do it.’”

What We Said: Gray Maynard looked to be coasting to an easy victory in the first round of his lightweight bout with Dennis Siver, but the Germany-based Russian rebounded in the second round and showed a great deal of heart and determination throughout the fight, eventually falling short via a three round unanimous decision.

Maynard flew out of his corner at the opening bell, blitzing Siver with lefts and rights, one of which jarred him and put him on the mat.  Maynard pounced, putting his foe in trouble on a number of occasions, but he was unable to finish.  In the second, Siver was able to establish his striking from long range and he scored effectively on Maynard.  Even when the bout went to the mat, Siver controlled much of the action before Maynard got his bearings and wind back and finished the round strong.  The third was controlled by Maynard, who only saw his ground and pound attack interrupted by a choke attempt by Siver, who hung in to the final bell and never stopped trying to win.  This was Maynard’s night though, and the scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice reflected that.

What It Meant: After hurting Siver early, Maynard wasn’t able to finish, and he was tossed into the middle of a dog fight for the remaining two rounds. “The Bully” prevailed, but after the bout he got a talking to from coach Randy Couture, who brought in boxing expert Gil Martinez to get Maynard to use his striking in a more refined manner. He did, and it made him an even more dangerous fighter.

April 2, 2008 – UFC Fight Night – W3 Frankie Edgar

It was going to be a war of wills in the high altitude of Colorado, as Maynard met fellow rising star Frankie Edgar. Little did either of them know that they would meet again less than three years later with the world lightweight title on the line.

What He Said: “I ended up with a broken hand in that fight and I got my eye screwed up pretty bad, so it wasn’t a hard one where it was him, it was just me dealing with things and saying ‘okay, this is gut check time. I gotta push through it.’ But again, he’s a tough kid and it was a tough fight. They (the fights) are always good if you have a good opponent.”

What We Said: Unbeaten Gray Maynard pinned the first pro loss on fellow lightweight prospect Frankie Edgar, using his size, strength, and wrestling to earn a hard fought unanimous decision victory.

Scores were 30-27 across the board for Maynard.

Eschewing his usual fast start, Maynard stood in the pocket and boxed with Edgar in the early stages of the fight, with Edgar patiently picking his shots and landing with sharp punches down the middle. With two minutes left in the round, Maynard got his first takedown and tried to capitalize on the mat. Edgar was able to get up without having absorbed too much punishment and by the end of the round he left Maynard with an abrasion over his eye.

Maynard looked to be back to his old self as the second round opened as he aggressively pursued Edgar, who effectively flurried and got out of his opponent’s range. Edgar was continuing to have trouble taking Maynard down, but ‘The Bully’ wasn’t able to fully capitalize on his good fortune, and when he got overaggressive with a little over two minutes left, Edgar greeted him with a throw to the mat. By now, Maynard was bleeding from over the right eye, and it was obvious that Edgar’s quick shots and movement were keeping him off balance. The solution? Try out his luck on the mat, which Maynard did as the round entered its final minute, but he was unable to mount a steady offensive before the bell rang.

Still pushing the pace, Maynard started the third with power shots followed by a takedown, but the speedy Edgar got out of trouble in no time and got back to his feet. Maynard put Edgar back down against the fence, followed with two slams, and was piling up points on the New Jersey native. With the round half over, Edgar escaped and scored with strikes at close range, but again, Maynard was able to close the gap and put his foe on his back for the remainder of the fight, sealing the victory.

What It Meant: The unbeaten Edgar was expected to be the stiffest test of Maynard’s career, but “The Bully” was just too big and strong for Edgar in this fight. When the two met again at UFC 125, the consensus was that the title fight would be a repeat of this bout, only with two rounds added. It was an assumption that was way off base.

January 11, 2010 – UFC Fight Night – W3 Nate Diaz

Other than a world title fight, there was nothing Maynard wanted more than a rematch with Nate Diaz. After three post-Edgar wins over Rich Clementi, Jim Miller, and Roger Huerta, he got his wish.

What He Said: “I believe that the people who talk about decisions all the time and say that this guy sucks because he wins by decision, they’ve got a rude awakening coming in the future because the gap is getting so close with the top guys. And nobody’s gonna quit and it’s gonna get harder to get knockouts. Everybody knows jiu-jitsu now, and it’s gonna be the small intricacies that are gonna win big fights by close margins.”

What We Said: It probably wasn’t the way lightweight contender Gray Maynard pictured it, but before a sold out crowd at the Patriot Center, he got the “W” he wanted more than any other, as he was awarded a close three round split decision victory over Nate Diaz in the UFC Fight Night main event, a win that avenged his defeat to Diaz on season five of The Ultimate Fighter.

Scores for Maynard were 30-27, 29-28, and 28-29, a verdict that wasn’t greeted warmly by the packed house.

“It feels good,” said Maynard of avenging the TUF5 loss. “Game plan and technique went out the window. I saw that guy and I just wanted to throw. It was stupid, but I hope everybody enjoyed it.”

Diaz stalked Maynard calmly to open the bout, with Maynard responding with the occasional wild haymaker. Diaz began talking to Maynard, who was already bleeding from over the right eye, trying to goad him into a firefight. The shorter Maynard was having trouble getting his range, but Diaz wasn’t piling up the points either as the round entered it’s final two minutes. With the round up for grabs, the two upped the pace in the last 120 seconds, each getting in some punches and kicks before the bell.

Both Diaz and Maynard got a little busier in round two, with Maynard landing the best punch of the fight thus far 90 seconds in when he nailed Diaz with a thudding right hand. Diaz was unmoved by the shot and went back to his unorthodox southpaw attack, but a knee by Maynard dropped the Stockton, California briefly and another right hand knocked him off balance moments later. Neither blow appeared to hurt Diaz, but definitely made an impression on the judges. Diaz went back to showboating in the final minute, and Maynard joined in for a moment, but nothing resulted from their show of bravado, and the crowd let them hear it.

Diaz was the more active fighter in round three, and while Maynard trudged forward, he was not scoring enough to keep Diaz from apparently piling up the points in this pivotal round. Even in the clinch, Diaz was showing no signs of wear, but Maynard did finish strong, apparently doing enough to secure the victory on the judges’ scorecards.

What It Meant: It wasn’t pretty, but sometimes pretty doesn’t always get the win, and if Maynard had learned one thing, it’s that winning moves you up the ladder and keeps you employed. And now with the monkey of his only (albeit unofficial) loss off his back, he could refocus and start closing in on the next goal – a world championship.

August 28, 2010 – UFC 118 – W3 Kenny Florian

Kenny Florian had been to the mountaintop twice and after coming up short he did everything necessary to get back to the front of the line. Now all he had to do was get past a hungry Maynard eager to get his first shot at UFC gold.

What He Said: “I’m really concentrating on Florian, and it’s hard for me to look past anyone. That’s the plan of course, to go out there, kick Florian’s ass and get a chance at the belt, but if I look past this fight, Florian’s face just keeps popping up in my head and that’s fine. I’m happy with that because that’s who I’m going up against and that’s just my mindset – who’s next, and that’s all I care about.”

What We Said: Unbeaten contender Gray Maynard earned a shot at the UFC lightweight crown as he scored a solid, but fairly uneventful, three round unanimous decision win over Brookline, Massachusetts’ Kenny Florian.

Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Maynard.

The action was sporadic at best for the first three minutes, with Florian the busier of the two as he shot out quick punches and kicks at his foe. With under 90 seconds left, Maynard finally sprung into action as he shot for – and eventually got – the takedown, and proceeded to bull Florian into the fence, where they stayed until the end of the round.

Maynard’s potshots began to land with more frequency in the second round, allowing him to free up another takedown. This time, Maynard had more speed on his fastball as he began landing strikes on his foe, cutting Florian over the left eye in the process.

Florian’s striking game finally started to pay dividends in the third round, but even though he was scoring more, he wasn’t hurting Maynard, who again took “KenFlo” to the mat. And while Maynard’s methodical attack wasn’t winning him any New England fans, it was effective. In response, Florian kept battling from the bottom, looking for a submission, and with less than 30 seconds left he got to his feet and searched for a haymaker as Maynard ran out the clock. But it was not enough for the local hero to pull out the win.

“I tried to make him chase me,” said Maynard. “He doesn’t chase a lot.”

What It Meant: Legendary boxing trainer George Benton said it best: “win today, look good next time.” Maynard got the win, got his title shot, and now he was one fight away from his dream of being a world champion. And if you wanted excitement, he was about to bring it.

January 1, 2011 – UFC 125 – Draw 5 Frankie Edgar

There were those who moaned about Maynard and Frankie Edgar headlining the UFC’s New Year’s show on January 1st. Well, I sure hope they didn’t miss the fight, because they missed a Fight of the Year candidate and one of the best UFC lightweight title fights of All-Time.

What He Said: “I think competing in a combat sport since the time I was three, my whole process of wins, losses, dreams collapsing, achieving goals, the ups and the downs, and the highs and the lows have all come back to just concentrating on today. Don’t look ahead to the belt, what will happen if I lose, what will happen if I win. Just concentrate on today and what I have to take care of today, and that will make you know that ‘hey, I’ve got to be prepared for now.’ And that’s gonna happen for the scrap too; you’re gonna be right there and you’re gonna appreciate it and not try to look ahead of it. You’re gonna concentrate on that fight.”

What We Said: By all rights, Frankie Edgar never should have made it out of the first round of his UFC 125 main event against Gray Maynard. But after surviving multiple knockdowns in the opening frame, the UFC lightweight champion roared back to retain his belt with a five round draw in an exciting bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena that kicked off the 2011 fight year in style.

Scores were 48-46 Maynard, 48-46 Edgar, and 47-47. All three judges scored the first round 10-8 in favor of Maynard.

“It felt like the first round didn’t happen,” said Edgar, who made the second successful defense of his title. “It was a close fight.”

“I kinda punched myself out in the first,” said Maynard. “I thought I won (rounds) 1,3,5. It was a close one, but I thought I won.”

The two took their time getting acclimated to the bout in the opening minute, but Maynard announced his arrival to championship mixed martial arts a little more than a minute in with a left hook that hurt and dropped the champion. Edgar got up, only to be sent back down by a right uppercut. Maynard pounced, but amazingly Edgar weathered the assault.  Moments later, with Edgar now bleeding from the nose, Maynard struck with another hard right uppercut, and Edgar, his legs wobbly, once again seemed on the verge of defeat.  Yet by the end of the round, Edgar was firing back, and now the question to be asked was whether Maynard had gassed himself out.

Edgar opened the second round with a high kick, and he appeared to have his legs back under him as he moved around the Octagon and poked at the challenger with quick flurries. Maynard calmly strode forward, but his face was beginning to show the wear of battle and of Edgar’s resurgent offense. With less than 90 seconds left and the crowd chanting his name, Edgar responded with a quick flurry that opened a cut under Maynard’s left eye, and he followed up with a thunderous slam the ignited the crowd. By the end of the round, Edgar added a stuffed takedown and a right to the face as he emphatically got back in the fight.

“Just beat him up, you don’t need the knockout,” UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture told Maynard between rounds. “You just gave him that round.” The champion wasn’t about to play along though, as he again used his stick and move strategy to perfection while also keeping Maynard from putting him on his back. Maynard kept stalking, and with less than 90 seconds left, he began to get closer with his power shots as he again brought blood from the New Jersey native’s nose before landing a takedown in the final minute. But even on the mat, Edgar kept battling, locking in a guillotine choke just before the bell.

Edgar went on the offensive with a takedown and guillotine choke attempt to begin the fourth round, and while Maynard got up and escaped, the champion called on his wrestling for another takedown seconds later.  After the two rose, Maynard – in the fourth round for the first time in his career – continued to chase Edgar, who made him pay when he got too close as he continued his stirring comeback.

With five minutes to go, each shot carried the weight of the outcome on it, and each of these gutsy lightweights had their moments in the first half of the frame. In the second half, Maynard looked for the takedown but was turned back, and Maynard repaid the favor to Edgar, leaving this bout to be settled on the feet. With less than a minute left, Edgar tagged Maynard, Maynard fired back, and both were bloodied as they went toe-to-toe till the final bell.

What It Meant: A natural for a rematch, Maynard and Edgar will do it again at the end of May. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any crying about these two lightweights’ headlining status ever again.

R.MacDONALD vs. DIAZ

TORONTO, April 30 – Some fighters are never the same after a crushing loss. Others get better. The latter scenario was fitting for Canada’s Rory MacDonald, as he rebounded from last June’s loss to Carlos Condit with a shutout three round decision over Nate Diaz in UFC 129 prelim action at Rogers Centre Saturday night. Watch post-fight interview

Scores for MacDonald were 30-26 twice and 30-27.

“I’m on top of the world,” said the 21 year old MacDonald, now 11-1. “My gameplan was to control the fight.”

MacDonald used his long-range attacks effectively early, keeping Diaz (13-7) at bay until the second minute, when the Stockton, California native was able to close the distance and lock his foe up against the fence. MacDonald didn’t stay there long; instead, he broke free and got back to peppering Diaz from a distance. After a MacDonald initiated lock-up against the fence, the fighters separated for a few seconds until Diaz tied the Canadian up briefly just before the bell.

In the second round, MacDonald imposed his size on Diaz, muscling him down to the canvas twice, where he didn’t score a lot, but just enough to make an impression on his opponent and the judges. Diaz kept battling though, peppering MacDonald on the inside when the two grappled against the fence, and even getting his foe to a knee in one takedown sequence.

Diaz came out in the third looking to turn things around after a slow start, but it was MacDonald keeping the heat on with three thudding slams to the mat that made the crowd erupt. Diaz, as is his custom, never stopped trying to find the opening to catch MacDonald, but as the round progressed, it was clear that such an opening wasn’t coming, and with some of the loudest cheers of the night, MacDonald wrapped up the biggest win of his career.

ELLENBERGER vs. PIERSON

Short notice was no problem for Jake Ellenberger in welterweight action, as he knocked out Toronto’s Sean Pierson in the first round. Watch post-fight interview

After a tentative opening from both men, Ellenberger – who replaced Brian Foster – opened things up with a takedown, but Pierson, a standout Canadian amateur wrestler, jumped up immediately. Moments later though, Ellenberger finished the bout with a crushing left hand that knocked Pierson out before he hit the mat. The end came at the 2:42 mark.

With the win, Ellenberger ups his record to 25-5 and improves his UFC winning streak to four. Pierson falls to 11-5.

PATRICK vs. ROBERTS

Toronto’s own Claude Patrick thrilled his home province fan in welterweight action, eking out a grueling three round unanimous decision win over Daniel Roberts. Watch post-fight interview

Scores were 29-28 across the board for Patrick, who improves to 14-1; Roberts falls to 12-2.

Roberts nearly sprinted out of his corner at the bell, receiving a quick takedown for his trouble. After a stalemate between the two jiu-jitsu standouts, they stood, with Patrick trying to use his strikes to set up another takedown. In the final two minutes, Patrick landed a flush left hand to the head of his foe, and after jawing at him briefly, he locked Roberts up and took him down again. Patrick looked for an arm triangle briefly, but when that didn’t work, he rose and rocked “Ninja” with a few more strikes, leaving him winded and seemingly out of it at the bell.

After a minute’s reprieve, Roberts appeared to have his legs back, but Patrick was just as eager to get back into action as he met him at the center of the Octagon. Roberts was able to secure a takedown in that opening minute, but Patrick scrambled to his feet, and after tangling at close range, it was “The Prince” who got the last word with a knee to the head. Midway through the round, Patrick scored a takedown of his own, but Roberts reversed position, and the two continued to scrap on the mat until a final sequence of standup action that produced no significant scoring.

Patrick got the first takedown of the final round, a beautiful leg trip that he parlayed into top position on the mat. Roberts kept working though, and he soon stood and reset the action before being turned away on his own takedown attempt. With under a minute left, referee Dan Miragliotta broke the stalemated welterweights, and it was Roberts who was able to get the action to the mat one more time before the final horn.

MENJIVAR vs. VALENCIA

Bantamweight veteran Ivan Menjivar returned to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 48 in 2004, and he made the most of it, ending Charlie Valencia’s night with a vicious elbow in less than two minutes. Watch post-fight interview

The end came at the 1:30 mark of the opening frame, as Menjivar dropped Valencia with a short left elbow to the nose while the two grappled against the fence. A series of unanswered ground strikes followed, with referee John McCarthy stepping in to rescue the Californian.

With the win, Montreal’s Menjivar ups his record to 22-7. In his first UFC bout, he lost a three round decision to Matt Serra in a lightweight bout. Valencia falls to 12-7.

J.MacDONALD vs. JENSEN

Longtime middleweight standout Jason MacDonald’s comeback to the UFC after three consecutive Octagon losses and a series of injuries finally hit an upturn at Rogers Centre, as he submitted Ryan Jensen in the first round for his first UFC win since he defeated Jason Lambert in 2008. Watch post-fight interview

The action heated up immediately, as MacDonald and Jensen locked up and the Nebraskan locked in a guillotine choke. MacDonald easily escaped and then fired back with a submission attempt of his own from his back, sinking in a triangle choke. Jensen tried to slam and punch his way out of danger, but seconds later, he was forced to tap out at the 1:37 mark.

With the win, MacDonald improves to 26-14; Jensen falls to 16-7.

MAKDESSI vs. WATSON

He was more matador than “Bull” for much of his lightweight bout against The Ultimate Fighter 12’s Kyle Watson, but in the third round, John Makdessi exploded, finishing matters in emphatic fashion with a spinning backfist. Watch post-fight interview

It was a mainly tactical first round between the two former sparring partners, with Makdessi’s more refined and varied striking attack giving him the edge, and in the second stanza, it was more of the same, this time with “The Bull” beginning to tag and stun Watson repeatedly.

By round three, it looked to be just a matter of time before Makdessi lowered the boom on his veteran foe, and at 1:27 of the final round, Makdessi scored with a left spinning back that dropped and finished Watson immediately, upping Makdessi’s unbeaten slate to 9-0.

With the defeat, Watson, who was attended to by the Octagonside physicians for several minutes before leaving on his own power following the bout, falls to 16-8-1.

GARZA vs. JABOUIN

Featherweight up and comer Pablo Garza may have upset the local fans in the featherweight opener, but “The Scarecrow” made an impression on everyone in attendance with a first round submission victory over Yves Jabouin of Montreal that featured a rare flying triangle that won the WEC vet Submission of the Night honors. Watch post-fight interview

Jabouin dropped Garza twice in the opening round with right kicks to the leg. Moments later, the “Tiger” moved upstairs, sending his foe’s mouthpiece flying with a right uppercut. But just when it seemed like the Montrealer was getting into a fight-finishing rhythm, Garza bounced bank and began to nail Jabouin with knees at close range. What came next was a flying triangle attempt, and while Jabouin was able to avoid an immediate end to the bout, Garza stuck with the triangle and finished it, producing a tap at 4:31 of the round.

With the win, Garza improves to 12-1; Jabouin falls to 15-7.

MACHIDA vs. COUTURE

TORONTO, April 30 – Karate is back again. Though if you ask former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, he’ll tell you it never left, and to prove it, he sent UFC legend Randy Couture into retirement with a spectacular jumping front kick in UFC 129 main card action Saturday night at Rogers Centre to get back on the winning track after losses to Mauricio Rua and Quinton Jackson. Watch Machida post-fight interview

“It was an honor to fight him,” said Machida, 17-2, of Couture. “He’s is a hero.” 

“He’s a tremendous fighter,” said the 47 year old Couture. “It felt like I was standing still out there, and he caught me with a great kick.” Watch Couture post-fight interview

With the crowd chanting “Randy” to start the bout, Couture came out with his hands high, bobbing and weaving as he moved forward. Machida, as cool as ever, stunned Couture with a 1-2, instantly quieting the pro-Couture followers.  Couture continued to stalk, but as soon as he got his hands on his opponent, Machida would toss him off with ease. But even though he took the round, Machida’s only offense in the final minute was a hard kick to the midsection.

Picking things up in the second round, Machida seemed intent on ending the bout, and soon enough, he did, taking a leap in the air, and while faking his left, landed flush with a right front kick. Couture fell flat on his back, and as Machida moved in for the finish on his hurt opponent, referee Yves Lavigne intervened, stopping the bout at the 1:05 mark. The move earned the Dragon a $129,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.

“This is it. I think the last time we had this conversation I had all my teeth,” joked Couture, who retires with a 19-11 record, five UFC titles in two divisions, status as a UFC Hall of Famer, and the eternal gratitude of all who watched him fight over the last 14 years, more than 55,000 of which stood and gave him an ovation after this final bout.

MATYUSHENKO vs. BRILZ

It was clean-up time for “The Janitor” in light heavyweight action as Vladimir Matyushenko took only 20 seconds to knock out Jason Brilz. Watch post-fight interview

“Sometimes I do what I promise,” smiled the veteran native of Belarus, who promised a dominant and entertaining victory. “I’ve been working on my striking skills.”

Sizing his opponent up, Matyushenko struck gold with his first offensive blast, drilling Brilz with a 1-2 that dropped him hard. A follow up barrage stiffened the Nebraskan, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to halt the bout.
 
With the win, Matyushenko improves to 26-5. Brilz falls to 18-4-1.

HENDERSON vs. BOCEK

Former WEC lightweight champion Ben Henderson didn’t deliver his usual Fight of the Night performance, but he was effective in his UFC debut, shutting out Mark Bocek over three rounds. Watch post-fight interview

The unanimous decision read 30-27 across the board for Henderson.

With Bocek unable to get Henderson to the mat throughout much of the first round, the Canadian was forced to eat punches and kicks from his foe until 1:17 remained and he secured a takedown. Even there though, Bocek was largely ineffective, as Henderson continued to pound away from the bottom position.

Bocek kicked off the round two scoring with a hard takedown, but Henderson stayed busy and refused to stay there long. After a stalemate against the fence, referee Yves Lavigne restarted the bout with a little over three minutes left. Henderson’s next move was a takedown of his own, and he proceeded to deliver hard strikes to the head and body as Bocek looked for a submission in between shots. After the two rose, Henderson pushed Bocek to the fence, but it was the Ontario native getting the best of things as he locked in a choke. Henderson stayed calm and broke loose, landing some solid strikes before the round ended.

Henderson drew some boos before the final round as he tried to amp up the pro-Bocek crowd, and they responded by cheering “Let’s go Bocek.” It was Henderson remaining in control though as he pounded away from the top position on the mat. The ultra-tough Bocek was able to get a late takedown with under a minute left, but his guillotine choke attempt was too little too late.

With the win, Henderson improves to 13-2; Bocek falls to 9-4.