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Gray Maynard has parted ways with the UFC and is plotting his next move in MMA.
The last few years of Gray Maynard’s UFC career didn’t exactly go as planned. After nearly dethroning Frankie Edgar for the lightweight title twice, he hasn’t been able to get much momentum going. He’s just 2-6 in his last eight, and a brief stint at featherweight didn’t accomplish what he desired. So he’s heading towards greener pastures.
In a conversation with MMA Junkie, the 40-year-old Maynard revealed that he’s no longer under contract to the UFC:
“I don’t know – we’re trying to work some stuff out,” Maynard said. “(I’m) not with the UFC anymore, so I’m trying to work some stuff out, check what’s going to make sense, and probably be at featherweight. So that’s the next step.
“It’s wide open. I’ve always dealt with the UFC like on a contractual term, and just kind of who I’m going up against, and basically, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s do it.’ And now that I’m done, I kind of wanted to have a manager and let them deal with it.”
Maynard isn’t sure where he’s going to go, but he has no ill will towards his former employer. He revealed that he basically just fought out two really long contracts and wanted to try something new:
“Man, it was time,” Maynard said, “It’s been time for a while. And you know, great fights – I had a good time there. But it just really wasn’t doing it for me anymore. I was in my last contract with eight fights. At the beginning, I was in a nine-fight contract. So it’s been a lot of long holds, and there weren’t really a lot of options as I was coming up. Lately, there’s been a lot more options, and it was a mutual deal, and I just moved on.”
Maynard leaves the UFC with an 11-7-1 record in 19 fights, and is coming off a TKO loss to Nik Lentz in October 2018.