Gray Maynard will face Frankie Edgar for Edgar’s UFC lightweight title at UFC 130 on May 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be Maynard’s third bout against Edgar. The first time the two met, in 2008, Maynard proved victorious, defeating Edgar by unanimous decision.
The two battled again at UFC 125 on January 1 of this year, and fought to a five-round majority draw. The draw resulted in Edgar retaining the UFC title he won from BJ Penn at UFC 112. The loss and draw with Maynard are the only two blemishes on the record of Edgar (13-1-1).
Maynard ran up his impressive record of 10-0-1 (one no contest) facing some strong lightweight fighters. “I fought who they wanted me to and I asked for the top guys,” Maynard told MMAFA.TV. “If you look at it now, in the top 10, I’ve fought about four of them: (Jim) Miller, Edgar, Nate (Diaz), (Dennis) Siver. I’ve never had an easy fight. I don’t like to explain that because either you know it or you don’t.”
Maynard does not see Anthony Pettis, the last WEC lightweight champion, as having the same pedigree as he does.
“Let’s look at who he’s fought. Ben Henderson is the best name. And I don’t mind fighting him; I don’t care if I win the belt and then I have to take him on,” Maynard continued. “But for me, guys like Miller, Melendez and all of these guys who have been on the f***ing grind, fighting the best competition for the past few years…that’s what I look at.
“Who have you fought? I don’t care about how good you looked when you fought a scrub. That doesn’t matter. If a guy isn’t good then you’re not supposed to look good. And for me, (Pettis) has fought one good guy in Ben, and he isn’t proven yet. He’s tough as hell, but we’ll see.”
Pettis is currently scheduled to meet Clay Guida on June 4 during The Ultimate Fighter Season 13 finale show. If he is able to get past Guida he will be next in line to fight for the UFC lightweight title.
When talking about his January 1 fight with Edgar, Maynard thinks he knows where things went wrong. “I’m still kind of new to all of this,” he said. “What happened when I caught Frankie in the first round, that’s never happened to me before so I didn’t know what to do. Next time I will. It’s a learning process and I’m still learning.”
The lightweight contender also spoke about his relationship with Rashad Evans, a fighter he roomed with during his college wrestling days at Michigan State University. “A lot of people have Rashad wrong. He’s the most down-to-earth guy, unbelievably nice,” Maynard said. “Rashad is my boy and he’s a real person. I like real people. I hate fake people. Absolutely hate them.”
UFC 130 will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 28, the main card will be broadcast on pay-per-view beginning at 9:00 pm ET.
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