Gray Maynard | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

UFC 136 Edgar vs. Maynard III: Who’s on the Hot Seat?

For the first time since UFC 69, the UFC invades Houston, TX. With two title bouts and a possible middleweight title eliminator, UFC 136 is poised to blow the roof off of the Toyota Center. The last time the UFC held an event here was the night Matt Serra shocked the world and knocked Georges St. Pierre out and took the UFC Welterweight Championship back to Long Island, NY.

Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard will look to pick up where they left off this past New Year’s night when the two men battled for five hard rounds only to see the fight scored a draw at UFC 125. Edgar will look to defend his title for the third time against the only man to have ever defeated him.

In what will most likely be Kenny Florian’s last shot at winning a UFC title, the Boston native will take on Jose Aldo. This will be Florian’s third attempt at winning a championship, having lost to Sean Sherk and BJ Penn in attempts to capture the UFC Lightweight Championship. Aldo will look to defend the UFC Featherweight Title for the second time, having defeated Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

Chael Sonnen makes his return after a 14-month layoff due to a suspension, as he will face Brian Stann in a bout that could determine the next man to face Anderson Silva for a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen and Silva met at UFC 117 back in August of 2010. Sonnen dominated the champion for four and a half rounds before getting submitted via triangle choke late in the fifth round. Stann has won three fights in a row since dropping down to middleweight.

This card is so stacked that the Spike TV bouts could be as exciting as any of the main card bouts. Anthony Pettis will face Jeremy Stephens and Demian Maia will take on Jorge Santiago. Joey Beltran, a fighter who has proven to be very entertaining, is relegated to the undercard.

Now that we have gone over the positives of this card, it is time to take a look at the negative aspects. We will now focus on the fighters who could find themselves without a job should they lose on Saturday night.

Whether it’s a losing streak or their inability to put on an exciting fight, there are always a few fighters who are on The Hot Seat.

Begin Slideshow

Win a Copy of ‘UFC Encyclopedia’ in Our UFC 136 Fight-Picking Contest!

Zuffa Editorial Director Thomas Gerbasi has just given us a stack of his upcoming book UFC Encyclopedia, a slick and meticulously detailed reference guide to the promotion’s 18-year history — perfect for your coffee table or the crapper. And we want to give away three copies to the savviest fight-pickers in the Potato Nation.

This Saturday, UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard III goes down at the Toyota Center in Houston, featuring the conclusion (we hope) of MMA’s grittiest lightweight rivalry, Jose Aldo‘s latest title featherweight defense against Kenny Florian, and Chael Sonnen‘s love-fest with Brian Stann. Submit your predictions for these three fights in the comments section below, including the winner’s name, the method of victory, and the time/round of stoppage, if any. Your entry should be in this format:

– Gray Maynard def. Frankie via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
– Jose Aldo def. Kenny Florian via TKO, 4:10 of round 4
– Chael Sonnen def. Brian Stann via submission (brabo choke), 0:13 of round 1

Please include the judges’ scores if you think a fight will end in a decision, in case we need them for a tie-breaker. The three most accurate predictions win a copy of the book. Entries must be in by Saturday at noon ET, and we’ll announce the winner on Monday. One entry per person, please. Any other questions, let us know in the comments section. Good luck.

Buy UFC Encyclopedia for $29.76 on Amazon

UFC 136 Fight Card: Why You Should Give a Damn

It’s been 14 months since UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar made the first successful defense of his belt against B.J. Penn. Since then, we’ve had a whopping one title fight in arguably the UFC’s most competitive division.Fight o…

It’s been 14 months since UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar made the first successful defense of his belt against B.J. Penn.

Since then, we’ve had a whopping one title fight in arguably the UFC’s most competitive division.

Fight of the Year candidacy aside, January’s draw between Edgar and top contender Gray Maynard put the 155-pound ranks in a bit of a logjam.

Ten months later, Maynard and Edgar will settle the score in a bout that should be captivating the minds of fight fans far more than it likely is.

It’s a fitting description for the UFC 136 card as a whole, an offering that rivals any lineup the UFC has rolled out in recent memory.

Full of great fights with notable ramifications on their respective divisions, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my weekend than to drive four hours south to the Toyota Center.

And that’s what I’ll be doing. As such, I’ve figured out why I should give a damn about this weekend’s card.

The better question, though, is why should you?

Begin Slideshow

UFC 136 Fight Card: What Is More Important Than Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard?

UFC 136 will soon be upon us, but what matters most isn’t the lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Instead, what matters most is the legacy Jose Aldo and the fate of the featherweight division.World Extrem…

World Extreme Cagefighting was formed in 2001 and lived a mediocre existence until it was purchased by Zuffa—the company that owns the UFC—in 2006.

Soon after that point, the WEC underwent a renaissance. Zuffa shifted the promotion’s focus to the lighter weight classes, specifically the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, which were absent in the UFC.

These weight classes and the fighters in them put on amazing fights for fans and their popularity soared. The peak of this was Anthony Pettis’ “showtime kick” against Ben Henderson for the WEC lightweight title.

Zuffa eventually determined that the time was right to merge the WEC lightweight roster with that of the UFC and bring on the two new weight classes: the bantamweights and featherweights were UFC-bound and the champions of the corresponding divisions were essentially rebranded to UFC champions.

Fans were thrilled to see the first title defense of one former WEC champion in particular—the Brazilian terror that was Jose Aldo.

Aldo made quite a name for himself in the WEC by going undefeated in his run with the organization, as well as capturing their featherweight title and outclassing all of his opponents, even the highly-touted Urijah Faber.

Surely, Aldo would be able to make short work of unheralded challenger Mark Hominick, or so the community’s “wisdom” dictated.

Aldo performed well against Hominick, but he was not the phenom he was made out to be: he was even almost finished in the last round!

Perhaps the champ had one bad night, but when the history (albeit brief) of the featherweight division is examined, a disturbing trend emerges: The champion, who everyone thinks is unbeatable, is only unbeatable as long as the weight class doesn’t undergo significant growth.

For example, Urijah Faber was a god among men at featherweight for quite some time. However, once the weight class became popular and more fighters entered it, his stranglehold over the division evaporated.

Simply put, a journeyman and UFC washout in Mike Brown was able to convincingly beat Faber. How could this be? Because Brown was fighting in a division (lightweight) that had a much deeper talent pool and was therefore fighting better fighters.

Faber, on the other hand, was fighting in a much smaller talent pool; he was a big fish in a small pond while Brown was a big fish in an ocean.

What does this have to do with Jose Aldo?

Aldo is set to defend his title against perennial contender Kenny Florian, a man who tried and failed at weight classes from middleweight to lightweight (where he most notably lost to B.J. Penn, Gray Maynard and Sean Sherk in high-stakes fights) at UFC 136.

If Aldo suffers a loss to a fighter who is known to be only above average (and perhaps cynics would call him a glorified gatekeeper), then it proves that Aldo was not one of the pound for pound best at all; he was just an overrated fighter who was beating up on other overrated fighters in an overrated division.

His reputation will suffer and the Aldo hype-train will produce a wreck almost more spectacular than that of the former “greatest of all time,” Fedor Emelianenko.

If Florian wins, lightweight fighters will no doubt take note of his success and will begin flooding the division. Eventually, featherweight will be a home for second-rate lightweight fighters who couldn’t cut it against the elite lightweights.

Thus, not only is Aldo’s reputation and legacy at stake in his fight against Florian—so to is the very fate of the featherweight division.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 136 Fight Card: What Is More Important Than Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard?

World Extreme Cagefighting was formed in 2001 and lived a mediocre existence until it was purchased by Zuffa—the company that owns the UFC—in 2006.

Fans were thrilled to see the first title defense of one former WEC champion in particular—the Brazilian terror that was Jose Aldo.

Surely, Aldo would be able to make short work of unheralded challenger Mark Hominick, or so the community’s “wisdom” dictated.

Aldo performed well against Hominick, but he was not the phenom he was made out to be: he was even almost finished in the last round!

Faber, on the other hand, was fighting in a much smaller talent pool; he was a big fish in a small pond while Brown was a big fish in an ocean.

What does this have to do with Jose Aldo?

His reputation will suffer and the Aldo hype-train will produce a wreck almost more spectacular than that of the former “greatest of all time,” Fedor Emelianenko.

Thus, not only is Aldo’s reputation and legacy at stake in his fight against Florian—so to is the very fate of the featherweight division.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Hump Day Headlines with Stephanie Ann Cook

Gray Maynard calls out Jon Jones by saying Rashad Evans will win “For sure! ‘Cause he’s gonna hit him and Jon Jones doesn’t like that.” Quinton “Rampage” Jackson suggests to compete in a charity boxing.

Gray Maynard calls out Jon Jones by saying Rashad Evans will win “For sure! ‘Cause he’s gonna hit him and Jon Jones doesn’t like that.”

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson suggests to compete in a charity boxing match against Lakers basket ball player, Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) via Twitter.

UFC 140: Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans may or may not be scheduled.

Bellator Ring Girl, Mercedes Terrell has a bunch of new half naked photos out.

Tim Credeur pulls out of UFC 137 bout with Brad Tavares due to injury, will be replaced by Dustin Jacoby.

Dan Henderson may be next Middleweight title-shot contender should he beat Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in his return to the UFC octagon headlining bout at UFC 139 in November.