With UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn next due to face number one contender Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on Dec. 12, speculation is already building around who might be next in line to stake his claim to the top contender position.
Rising talent Gray Maynard is certainly making his case. He’s undefeated in his career (7-0 with 1 no contest) and 5-0 in the UFC. He’s the only fighter to beat another top contender under consideration, Frankie Edgar, ended Rich Clementi’s latest Octagon hot streak and most recently stopped the eight-fight win streak of a very tough Jim Miller.
Through it all he’s relied on his Division I All-American wrestling skills, but against Miller, Maynard kept the fight standing, demonstrating an improved arsenal of stand-up tools that’s earned him buzz as the next contender.
Cornered by Randy Couture, Maynard next faces Roger Huerta (20-2-1), who hasn’t fought since being on the losing end of a unanimous decision to Kenny Florian at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” in August, 2008, ending a 16-fight unbeaten streak. This will be the final fight on “El Matador’s” contract, and it’s widely expected that he plans to take a hiatus from the sport of mixed martial arts to pursue acting and modeling opportunities.
We’ll see if it’s a happy goodbye this Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at Ultimate Fight Night 19 in Oklahoma City, Okla. The night’s main event features a match-up between two additional lightweights who have flirted with breaking into the upper echelon of the division, but who have come up short in the past, Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard.
We recently got the chance to catch up with “The Bully” to ask him about his upcoming fight against the on-again, off-again Huerta, how he felt about not being offered main event status and if his 71.4% likelihood of winning by decision has hurt his chances of securing a title shot.
Take a look.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): We last spoke before the Jim Miller fight, which you won via unanimous decision. You kept that fight on the feet, showing improved standup skills. Can you talk a bit about some of the work you put into that camp to prepare you for that fight and how it’s progressed into your preparation for this upcoming fight?
Gray Maynard: In camp you don’t really improve. It’s just hard training, making a couple of adjustments, but it was mainly all the time I put in with a guy named Gil Martinez. He’s got a gym and some good … these kids are good. So I’ve been going with him now for about a year and a half.
It takes time, it takes time. You gotta learn it. I’ve probably been wrestling since I was three, you know — it’s ingrained, it’s ingrained. So it’s easy just to like, “I’m gonna do this, this and this.”
Boxing, it takes time, it takes work. I think after about a year — I’ve been going with (Martinez), about a year and a half now — it clicks a little bit. Obviously, it still takes some more time and there’s still a lot of stuff to learn. Against Jim, it clicked a little more.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So that’s in addition to your work at Xtreme Couture?
Gray Maynard: Yeah, I have a couple of gyms. I’m over at Couture’s a lot when I’m in camp. But when I’m not in camp, I try to learn, I’m jumping all over.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So in terms of preparing for this camp, have you been doing anything drastically different from your previous camps?
Gray Maynard: Not too much, no. Just kinda keeping it going. I try to learn a lot when I’m not in camp, so camp is just more to … a lot of sparring, hard training, getting quick and stuff like that.
There’s nothing I would really change up going up against (Huerta), and there’s probably only a couple of guys who I would change up a lot … not even a lot. Obviously against a guy like, maybe Penn, who is just — I mean, he’s dangerous. So you gotta have a plan and change up some stuff.
But Huerta? He has heart. He has a lotta heart. But technically? I think he has more heart. He just kinda … man, he comes in, bop, bop, bop.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Well that ties into my next question. Given that Huerta does try to push the pace and he has shown a lot of heart, is that the type of opponent you like to face — one that can push the pace and keep coming at you, test your endurance?
Gray Maynard: Yeah, that’s great too. But I like to go up against whoever … whoever it is. If it’s a guy who’s fought datta-datta-da. You have to datta-datta-da. It’s just like, that’s fine, let’s do it.
You can’t choose, “Well I like a type of guy,” ‘cause then it’s going to get kind of ingrained and stuff. And then it’s like, “Alright, well now you have (to fight) him, who’s completely different (than your type).”
You just have to be prepared for all, pretty much, all kinds of shit (laughs), everything … and enjoy it. I can’t pick, “Well I only want to go up against smaller guys who do this and that.” You know?
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Sure, sure. Well, you’re now sitting on five UFC wins in a row. There’s starting to get that talk of title contention. Were you surprised that you weren’t going to be featured as the main event for the fight, given that Huerta has a strong fan base — I do recognize that he’s on his way out with the UFC — but you have all this talk of title contention, and the people who got the main event, Diaz, he’s on a two-fight skid, against Guillard, who’s 5-3 in the UFC.
Gray Maynard: Yeah, you know what, it didn’t even cross my mind.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Really?
Gray Maynard: Just because that’s not what it’s about. I mean, it’ll come, of course. But you just gotta win and you gotta take care of everyday. So that’s all I care about, it’s just like, “Alright, What can I do today?” I gotta get good, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. I gotta take care of, you know …
Again, I’m not doing this to be a star and stuff. It’s just it’s a great job, and I’m good, I like it, I love this job. It’s a great sport. I wouldn’t do anything else.
So it’ll come, it’ll come. You just have to take care of stuff. You gotta go in the gym everyday, all day. And it’ll come. You gotta win, though.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Do you think that because you’ve had a lot of decision wins, as opposed to TKOs or submissions, do you think that that in any way has sort of hampered your rise to that title contention level?
Gray Maynard: Okay, well, I’m going to ask you a question here: in the top 10 … okay, in the top eight guys at 155 pounds. Who is really a guy who has a bunch of KOs or a bunch of … even the tapouts … against good guys, though. Against top guys.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): It’s a good point.
Gray Maynard: You know what I’m saying? If you’re going up against the top guys, three rounds? It’s hard to end him. I don’t care if it’s … Of course you might catch him and stuff, but the majority of it is you gotta prepare for three hard rounds.
Championships, you start going after that, a lot of people they get tired, a little sloppier, you might be able to do that.
GSP is running into the same thing, he’s going up against tough guys now. He had a couple guys who, I mean, they’re kinda over-a-hill a little bit. People have to understand, if it’s a KO or all these flashy KOs and stuff like that, you gotta check out the opponent too.
Heavyweights, that’s what they’re known for. There’s a lot of weight behind it, that’s what it’s about.
But if you want to see technique, if you want to see a good three-round scrap, watch the lightweights. Watch these guys. The top guys are tough, you know. Jim, I frickin’ hit that kid hard with four-ounce gloves. Hit him HARD a couple times. He’s just a game opponent. You’re going to get that.
Do I want to get KOs? Do I want to do that stuff? Does everybody? Yeah. But is it going to happen? We’re dealing with three rounds, that’s not much time. If it was 12, yeah, you can start working the body, his hands start coming down, boom! KO. Round eight. Or 10. …
People need to start getting … I think they’re getting to that point, but they have to start to understand there are a lot of aspects to this game. There are a lot of aspects.
And the sport is evolving, which is good. There’s a lot of good guys now. You’ve got a lot of good guys and that’s perfect. You’re going to see good fights now. There’s going to be KOs, there’s going to be all kinds of stuff. But if you’re going to have two of the dudes who are good, they’re coming in prepared, game plans … it’s like, “I gotta win.”
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Well speaking of game plans, with all the talk of Huerta desiring this acting or modeling career, do you expect him to have his head fully in this game and come in well-prepared?
Gray Maynard: I count on him to be 100-percent. Just ‘cause you gotta do that. If you don’t, there’s a chance that it’s like, “Wait a second, I got a surprise here.” So I’m counting on him to be at the top. I’ve prepared hard. I’m not taking a chance of like, “Well, he’s not going to be as prepared, so I’m going to chill out a little bit too.” No way, uh-uh.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Do you expect that a win here could put you in title contention?
Gray Maynard: You know what, man, again, I take it one day at a time. I’ve got Huerta, and it’s a test, of course. It’s kind of up to them. It’s up the UFC. I’m not the type of guy who is … going to ask them, please, please, please, please. No.
There’s going to be a time, when it’s like, “Hey, Gray, it’s time.” And I’ll tell them yes, and that’s when I’m going to get a chance. But as of now, I can’t even think about that, just ‘cause I gotta tough guy. I got Huerta coming up, so I don’t know.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Well, Gray, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.
Gray Maynard: Yeah, man.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I also wanted to give you a chance to thank any sponsors.
Gray Maynard: Yeah, I’d like to thank, Everlast, CagefighterMMA.com, DPMSinc.com — just a whole bunch of guns, some cool guns — Hyperlight.com and Cash4Gold.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Well thanks again, Gray. Do you have any last thoughts?
Gray Maynard: Yeah, I appreciate everybody just kinda hanging. It does take some time to get good, of course. If it was easy then everybody would have a belt. There’d be a nice glossy belt around everyone’s waist. So it does take time, and I’m trying hard.
So I appreciate everybody who supports me. It’s a cool sport, a really cool sport, so keep checking it out. And I appreciate the support.
