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Following his victory over Diego Sanchez at UFC 107, BJ Penn was set to defend his title against either Frankie Edgar or Gray Maynard. At an UFC Ultimate Fight Night event a few months back, Gray Maynard defeated Nate Diaz in the main event, a fight that was considered “boring.†At the UFC Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, Frankie Edgar defeated Matt Veach in a fight that was considered to be “exciting.â€
Thus, Frankie Edgar, a fighter defeated by Gray Maynard, was given the title opportunity at UFC 112 as Gray Maynard was left in the background. Although not officially stated in any capacity, most believe the UFC passed over Gray Maynard due to the stigma that he is a boring fight. That situation does in fact lead to the subject of this column, should being “boring†cost a fight a title shot?
Gray Maynard has fought eight times in the UFC and six of those fights have ended via decision, with only one fight ending via knockout or submission. In fact, Gray Maynard has had ten professional MMA fights, with eight of them ending by way of decision. In his UFC run, Gray Maynard has attained victories over notable fighters like Frankie Edgar, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Rich Clementi and Nate Diaz.
However, with those notable victories, along with several other victories in the UFC, Gray Maynard was still passed over for the title opportunity. Now, lets assume that all of Gray Maynard’s fights in the UFC were considered “excitingâ€, would he get the title opportunity instead of Frankie Edgar? The issue Gray Maynard will have to overcome more than gaining UFC victories is dumping the label as a boring fighter.
Let me take a look at another fighter in the UFC that has been labeled as a “boring†fighter by the MMA community, that fight is UFC middleweight fighter Yushin Okami. In nine appearances thus far in the UFC, six of those fights ended by decision for Yushin Okami, whose label as a “boring†fighter has pretty much pre-empted him from possibly ever getting a UFC Middleweight Title opportunity.
If Gray Maynard continues to follow the path of Yushin Okami or other “boring†MMA fighters, the possibility of a UFC title shot in any weight division will get slimmer as the days go on. Another question that must be asked in this column is a simple one, how many so called “exciting†fights must Gray Maynard have before he gets his UFC Lightweight Title opportunity?
Currently, with the lack of new challengers for UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn outside of possibilities like Takanori Gomi and Tyson Griffin, the UFC Lightweight Division really lacks the depth of challengers that can take the title off of BJ Penn. That factor benefits Gray Maynard greatly, who most likely needs two to three knockout and/or submission wins in a row to get interest in a fight with the champion.
As I stated earlier in this column, Gray Maynard will definitely need to shed the label as a “boring†fighter in order to get his long awaited UFC Lightweight Title opportunity, which as a “boring†or “exciting†fighter, Gray Maynard does deserve.
You can contact David Tees at bigtees360@yahoo.com
