Gray Maynard In Line For Another Title Shot, Is It Too Soon?
Gray Maynard is eying yet another title shot in the UFC Lightweight division, his match against TJ Grant at UFC 160 is for the number one contender spot at 155lbs. This would make it the third title shot ‘The Bully’ has received in five fights, should he get past Grant.
At UFC 125, Maynard fought to a draw against Frankie Edgar and was knocked out in the fourth round of their rematch (once again for the belt). Since then Maynard has only competed once, a decision win over Clay Guida in 2012, obviously coming that close to being the champion must have been a hard pill to swallow. Maynard spoke with Yahoo! Sports to explain the situation:
“I got pretty down, I’m not going to lie,” Maynard said in a recent interview. “I knew I had to step away for awhile and take stock of where I was at in my career. You only get so many chances in this business and I knew it was going to be a long road back.”
With the news that Maynard has left Xtreme Couture for AKA, many feel that we may see a new Maynard next time out.
“What they do at AKA is take those skills you’ve always had and make you re-think how you put all the ingredients together. It’s kind of hard to explain if you’re not there, but they see things in a way I had never seen things before. And when you work with guys like Cain, like DC, like Jon, and on down the line, it’s like each of them is a coach in his own right.”
Dana White could have easily given the title shot to Anthony Pettis, were he not fighting Jose Aldo at 145, and with the wins on Maynard’s record-it is hard to argue. He has beaten Jim Miller, Rich Clementi, Clay Guida, Frankie Edgar, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller. There is no doubting his presence at 155. His opponent, TJ Grant, is fresh off a vicious knockout of Matt Wiman in January. There is no debating his shot at the Champion, should he defeat Maynard.
I think that we may see a brand new, re-energized Gray Maynard at UFC 160, and if we do, he should indeed get the shot at Henderson.
Stay tuned to Lowkick!
