The UFC Lightweight division is filled with excellent competition for the only man to defeat future UFC Hall-of-Famer B.J. Penn in back-to-back fights, Frankie Edgar.
In his quest for the title, Edgar defeated names like Sean Sherk, Spencer Fisher, Tyson Griffin, Jim Miller and Mark Bocek. The sole stumble in his Mixed Martial Arts career was against Gray Maynard. The heated rivalry between UFC Lightweight Champion, Frank “The Answer” Edgar, and the only man to defeat him, Gray “The Bully” Maynard is one of the best the UFC has seen in a while.
Maynard managed to win their first outing by using his stiff wrestling to control Edgar, and eliminate his quickness. He attempted a few submissions, but mostly controlled the smaller Edgar. Edgar is one of the smallest lightweights, as he typically walks around 160 pounds pre-fight. Maynard used his ground striking skills, as well as his superior wrestling to outpoint the future champion. Later, in the rematch once Edgar became champion, the two fighters fought to a draw in the Fight of the Year.
The first round of their title fight alone could have easily garnered Fight of the Year honors. There were a total of 57 strikes landed in just that first round, 47 of which were by Maynard. Maynard dominated the first round, but Edgar miraculously hung around and recovered to make it out of the first. In the second round, Edgar began to out strike Maynard, and landed a few stellar takedowns, including a modified double leg. The fans slowly got behind Edgar, and his momentum just kept building until he was declared the UFC Lightweight Champion once again, sort of.
The fight was scored 46–48 for Edgar, 48–46 for Maynard, and 47–47 to declare the fight a majority draw. It was the first time in UFC history that a championship fight had been declared as such, and both fighters were left with unresolved anger. Neither knew how to take the draw. Sure, Edgar was still the champ, but it was like the fight never happened, as everyone was immediately sure there would be a rematch.
In the latest installment, there isn’t really a way in which Edgar can’t walk away with the belt. Maynard spent every ounce he had in that first round to try and put Edgar out, and Edgar showed how tough he was, and how determined he is to hold that belt. Maynard is going to have some trouble putting Edgar out that much is clear. The factor that remains to be seen is whether he can pace himself and land his shots and not gas early. In doing this, he will have to be more calm, and Edgar won’t be dazed the entire fight as he was before. Edgar will therefore be freer to get in and out and land heavy shots, he just has to be careful and nullify Maynard’s wrestling. If he can do that, Edgar wins this one by second round TKO.
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