The lightweight division can finally breathe again, as the Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard saga finally came to a fitting conclusion on Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas at UFC 136.
After getting dropped several times in the first round, Edgar brought about deja vu and rebounded in the following rounds.
Maynard completely abandoned his wrestling game and found himself getting lit up in the standup exchanges by the faster and more technical striker.
The climax came at 3:54 of the first round, when Edgar dropped Maynard with a massive right hand.
Fans in the arena were on their feet as they watched the champion follow up with unanswered ground strikes to put an end to the most exciting rivalry of 2011.
Meanwhile, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo also kept his strap intact at UFC 136, taking a tough unanimous decision over a game Kenny Florian.
Florian had his moments on the feet, but Aldo’s explosiveness, underrated ground game and otherworldly striking proved too much for the multiple division title contender.
With the win, Aldo continues to prove that he’s one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but was it enough to remain ahead of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones?
Here are the latest MMA pound-for-pound rankings.