"All i know is that he’s got the belt and I want it!"

Gray Maynard expects New Year’s Day 2011 to be the exciting night he takes the UFC lightweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Gray “The Bully” Maynard is challenging the reigning belt holder, Frankie Edgar. Two years ago, Maynard won a bout against Edgar, which remains Edgar’s only loss to date. Maynard, who is currently undefeated in his Mixed Martial Arts career, knocked out Joe Veres with a left hook in 9 seconds, a record in UFC history.

More than ready to meet the challenge, Maynard explained: “Two and a half years ago I beat him, but it’s still a new fight. We’ve all gotten better. Anytime you’re going up against the top guys like us, you’re getting better. You’re adding stuff. You’re changing it up, so it’s a new fight. I know he talks about revenge, but if anyone has that on his mind…it’s me, because I beat him, but he holds the belt. So I’m a little pissed off about that. Not a little…a lot pissed off! It’s like you have 2 dogs, you throw a steak there, they fight, then the dog that loses takes the steak and the dog that wins gets the Kibbles ‘n Bits. So I’m at the end of my chain watching him eat the steak. I’m not a smart man, but I know he’s doing better than me. I want my fucking steak! All I know is that he’s got the belt and I want it!”

Maynard arrived in Las Vegas at the age of ten and later attended Bonanza High School, where he took Nevada State Championship in his sophomore year. For his junior and senior years, he left his family and moved back to Lakewood, Ohio, to attend an all-boys school, St. Edward High School. “It was quite a culture shock,” Maynard said, “but it was a good school for sports and helped prepare me for college sports. I started wrestling when I was three. My dad was an Ohio State champ. I also played soccer, baseball, and of course football...I was an active kid. I liked the head on combat sport. That intrigued me. The team thing was cool, but I liked just relying on myself and if you work hard, it pays off. There’s no team to blame or fall back on. It’s all you.”

During those two years in Ohio he excelled in the wrestling program. In 1998 he became the Ohio State Champion in the 152-pound weight class. At Michigan State University he continued his wrestling and became the Michigan State Champion. He was also a three-time All-American. Maynard wrestled and roomed with Rashad Evans who would go on to become the UFC light heavyweight champion. When Maynard graduated MSU he ranked 11th with 106 career wins and 7th for 26 falls. But this wasn’t quite good enough for the National Championship that he was hoping for. It was his goal to go on to the Olympics after college, but that didn’t happen.

In 2004 the fighter came home to Vegas and worked construction for awhile. “I worked an asphalt gig…boy was it hot! I think it’s good to build your character and do gigs like that. It makes you know that you want more out of life,” Maynard continued. “But I still had competition going through my blood. I didn’t know much about the MMA, but it was big here. I ended up going to the Cobra Kai Jiu-Jitsu School. You can only jog so long on the treadmill, and I started liking the sport.” Maynard was then recruited to be a sparring partner with the then lightweight UFC champion mixed martial artist, B.J. Penn. He has claimed that he didn’t even know who Penn was at the time. “Penn called me and I said: ‘I have no idea who you are, but I’ll take a free trip to Hawaii.’” B.J. Penn was preparing for an upcoming fight with Rodrigo Gracie. He wanted Maynard to help train him in wrestling and takedown defense. So it was off to Hawaii for three weeks to train, and it was then, that with even more exposure to the sport, Maynard decided he wanted to compete, and became a student of UFC Hall of Famer, Randy Couture.

“I loved how they trained,” Maynard explained. “It was hard work, but easy to adopt, because it was like wrestling. It wasn’t slow-paced like jiu-jitsu practice can be—it was real, actual practice. That’s when I knew that’s what I wanted, and I needed to be good at it. Randy told me to go for it, so I quit my job and I trained full-time, 6 days a week, 2 times a day, for 2 hours a session.

Randy Aleman, who I’d known for a long time, ran the gym, and his dad had taken care of me since I was twelve, helping to pay for tournaments, camps, and coaches. Randy’s dad is a good guy and helped coach the kids at school. Randy was at the gym where they did the television show and everything just clicked. Then I got on the show The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5. It was a good team and they trained hard.”

Maynard won his first nine fights and then earned a shot against UFC fighter Kenny Florian on August 28, 2010. Beating Florian by unanimous decision, after controlling the fight with a wrestling style that is brutally effective, he now has a shot at the belt held by Frankie Edgar. Maynard’s Michigan State University coach Tom Minkel, a three-time U.S. Nationals Greco-Roman champion and 1980 Olympian claims: “Gray is a winner. You should not be surprised at his success in MMA. I’m not. The guy is a quality, independent, hard-working person.”

"I expect to win. I’m working my ass off for it.
I’m going to earn it and i’m going to take it."

“For the championship fight in January, I’m doing a 12-week camp, so I’m in the gym everyday,” Maynard continued. “You’ve got the guys who need to go away or to the mountains, because if they stay here they’ll drink and party, but this is my job. It’s easy for me to do. I have a problem with losing, so I know the steps that I have to take. I got the nickname ‘The Bully’ when I joined the Couture gym, because I like to train so hard. You have to concentrate on the day-to-day goals. You need to have a productive day every day in order to reach the long-term goal. I expect to win. I’m working my ass off for it. I’m going to earn it and I’m going to take it.”

At 5’ 8” and 155 pounds, Maynard stands 2” taller than Edgar, who is 1 pound lighter. It is a revenge fight on both sides, and when a fight is over the belt, it should be explosive. Asked what his future plans are, Maynard stated: “I want to be in the fights for another 7-8 years and then I want to do what everyone wants to do…have a concubine, and do drugs all day…(laughter). No, I’d like to retire and have a gym. A lot of people want to be in movies, but I like the gym. I like being in the gym everyday. That’s where I get my stress out. That’s where I feel comfortable and that’s what I love.”

ULTIMATE / WORLD MERGER

The landmark announcement came from UFC President Dana White that WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) and UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) will merge at the start of 2011. For the most part, everyone seems happy. Questions still persist about the bantamweight and featherweight divisions that the WEC has included in their roster, but aren’t offered by the UFC. WEC’s Anthony Pettis will take on the lightweight champion Benson Henderson in a final event on December 16th and then the winner will take on the champion of UFC’s Maynard versus Edgar fight held on New Year’s Day. Both winners will be matched in a future fight to unify the belts for the ultimate champion. Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo is scheduled to defend his 145-pound title against a yet-to-be-named opponent at the same January date. Frank Edgar recently said that he might drop down to the featherweight category, if it meant he would be taking on Jose Aldo. The fighters will regularly compete on pay-per-view. Lots of positive comments have come from WEC fighters – Anthony Pettis: “The possibility of headlining a pay-per-view is huge.” Ben Henderson: “It’d be a dream come true to be a UFC champion.” Miguel Torres: “I think it’s really good. It’s going to give us lighter guys more attention.” Urijah Faber: “I’m excited. It’s going to mean better paydays.” SLV

Issue 54 featuring: Renee Perez, Capri Anderson with Mia Lina and Kaylani Lei