On to a few thoughts on a two-day stretch of MMA shows featuring the WEC and UFC.
Gray Maynard needed a win over Nate Diaz Monday night at UFC Fight Night 20 to secure a likely shot at B.J. Penn in April in Abu Dhabi. He eked out a split decision, but there was much more required to winning the fight. Maynard had to look good, had to put on a show, dazzle the audience and the UFC championship committee, and put a bug in Penn’s head (if that’s even possible). Instead he let Diaz’s trash-talking and mind games get the best of him and take him completely off his game.
“Gray learned a valuable lesson in this fight, and it's that you can't let someone get in your head,” said his trainer, Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture. “He can disrespect you with all the verbal crap that goes on in or outside the cage, but you can't allow that to distract you from your goal, your job, what you trained to do.
“I think Gray verbalized that and realizes that's what happened, and that he got caught up in Diaz's attitude.”
Afterwards a contrite Maynard expressed some doubt that his phone will ring with an offer to fight Penn for the lightweight championship.
“The game plan and technique went out the window,” Maynard said. “I'm sorry about that. You won't see that again.”
The reason why Maynard was ranked ahead of Frankie Edgar was because he’s the only man to have defeated “The Answer.” Diaz lost the fight, but it appears as if he took away something from his opponent more valuable than the win at this stage of his career. Edgar looked awesome in December defeating Matt Veach. His dream is to represent New Jersey in March. It looks like the reality could turn out greater than the dream. Early Tuesday morning a source told ESPN MMA insider Franklin McNeil that the UFC has offered Edgar a title shot.
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Admittedly I didn’t see most of UFC Fight Night 20 in its entirety; the King of the Castle, age two, decided to take over. But reading the results I’m able to draw an obvious conclusion: You do everything in your power to prevent the fight from getting beyond your control and into the subjective opinions of the judges. Tom Lawlor put on the finest performance of his career against Aaron Simpson. Alas, Simpson barely survived the first round and escaped with a split decision to the vociferous displeasure of the crowd at the Patriot Center ... Chris Leben held on to his UFC spot with a sorely-needed victory over Jay Silva. The bigger story is the hope that The Crippler finally has his life together for good ... Efrain Escudero tasted defeat for the first time when he tapped to Evan Dunham in Round 3. Fellow fighters and mentors are lining up to tell the TUF Season 8 winner the loss will be the best thing to ever happen to him ... TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah looked even better than his last fight, a gritty, razor-sharp unanimous decision win over veteran Phil Baroni, this time going the distance to defeat Brad Blackburn. It’s amazing that Sadollah entered the TUF house without a professional record. His striking and Muay Thai are excellently executed and it’s now time for him to swim in deeper waters.
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I did get to watch WEC 46. The great thing about World Extreme Cagefighting is that you’re guaranteed at least one great fight and/or great performance. Mike Brown, Kamal Shalorus, Urijah Faber and Ben Henderson were fabulous, with Smooth wrapping up Jamie Varner like a tarantula to unify the lightweight title. A rematch between Henderson and Donald Cerrone is a given, while WEC president Reed Harris is talking up a showdown with Faber and featherweight champ Jose Aldo to headline the organization’s premiere pay-per-view event. Look for Brown to compete against a top contender with an impressive victory to assure him a chance at regaining the title he dropped to Aldo in November.
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